Sunday, April 6, 2008

PG Solo & Ensemble Festival

This was another Saturday filled with music. I had the opportunity to take four string and ten wind students to the PGCPS Elementary Solo & Ensemble Festival. It was a rewarding experience.

The highlight of the day was listening to two clarinet players from one of my schools. We rehearsed the piece on Thursday and it was very rough. These two young ladies are very hard working and I knew they could do better. So I challenged them to spend the next two nights reviewing the hard parts and practicing with the CD that Roger Hooper help me make. They exceeded my expectations. When they played their first notes, the classroom on Saturday was filled with a great clarinet sound. They did not play perfectly, but they worked their hearts out between Thursday @ 12:30 PM and Saturday @ 11:30 AM.

Overall, all the students did well and the main purpose of the festival is to motivate them to continue playing their instruments. All the young instrumentalists had a great time and received excellent feedback from the judges.

Sometimes as someone who loves playing congas to a funk beat, it is hard to teach clarinet. But yesterday was one of those experiences that help me enjoy teaching elementary school instrumental music in PG county.



1 comment:

Mari said...

I love the way you seek to honor God at your job. And I'm so encouraged to see how God answers that by blessing you with events like this past Saturday or the day at the seniors home. I know everyday is not like this but it's sweet to have these times to celebrate!
I love you.