MYA Concert

I had an MYA concert at the Pick Staiger Theater at Northwestern University on Sunday. There were five other groups performing besides the Philharmonia, which is my orchestra. Philharmonia was playing March to the Scaffold by Berlioz and The Prometheus Overture.

I arrived around 10:00 am, and I read a book called Maximum Ride till my friends got there. I arrived early because my brother, who is concert orchestra, had a dress rehearsal for his orchestra a couple of hours earlier than mine.

Nathan, the horn player, and Natalie, the principal violist, are two of my friends, and they arrived early for the rehearsal too. We talked until it was time to go to the dress rehearsal, which was on the stage. We talked about music and about the upcoming performance. Finally, it was time; I put my clarinet together and warmed up with chromatic scales and got in the line for the dress rehearsal. The rehearsal went smoothly, and we only had to play March to the Scaffold once and The Prometheus Overture twice. Mr. Pearson seemed to think that we were ready.

After the rehearsal, My brother Ari and I went to the Student Union to get lunch. We had sushi for lunch. It was okay sushi, but not great. It was fun to hang out at a college on my own with just my brother. While we were eating, I saw Anatole there, who was also getting sushi. Anatole is another of my friends in the orchestra. He plays the violin and likes to garden. After we ate, we played foosball in the Student Union until it was time to go to the concert. I dominated. We stayed at the Student Union for about an hour.

The concert was starting at 2:00 pm, but I arrived at 1:45. I went up to the balcony where all the people in MYA, who weren't performing until after the intermission, were sitting. The kids were mostly quiet but a few were talking.  First, we watched the Reading orchestra play. The orchestra was tiny, but they were very cute. Then the Jazz Ensemble, the Cadet Orchestra, Voices Rising, and the Jazz orchestra performed. Nathan didn't like the two jazz groups. I didn't either. They were really good, but we're not jazz fans.

When the intermission started, it was time to go backstage. I was kind of nervous, but I was determined to stop feeling nervous before performing. The kids were very serious backstage during intermission. They weren't talking very much, and some people were practicing their parts while we waited. When the intermission ended, it was time to go on stage. Being on stage was terrifying, but it was short-lived, because we were only on the stage for eleven minutes, and I really liked the pieces we were playing.  When we were finished, there was a lot of applause, and I think the applause is my favorite part of performing. After we finished, we packed up our instruments and went up to the top of the balcony, so we could watch the Concert Orchestra play. They were amazing! They played two movements of The Reformation Sympony by Mendelssohn. Listening to the Concert Orchestra perform was the best part of the day.

After the concert, my family and my grandparents went out for sushi. We ordered a little to much but we still finished it off. I was so stuffed, I didn't even want ice cream for dessert. When we finally arrived home, I thought on the events of the day. I decided then that this had been the best day I'd had since school started in August.