Our 4-month adventure is coming to an end. Since November, I have been working with 16 participants of After School Arts Program Inter-District Strings Project.
This is part of Waterbury Symphony Orchestra's outreach program and this is my third year being its Teaching Artist. The participants work toward concerts in which they sit side by side with WSO musicians. This year for the first time we have two adult participants. It's a nice addition to this mostly-teenager group.
The group came a long way -- some learned about two-year worth of private studies within four months. For some of them the music looked easy so I gave them some new challenges. In each rehearsal session, they took the challenges and they went many steps ahead of where they were. And everyone has a positive attitude toward their music and progress. That made it so easy for the three Teaching Artists to work with them!
Yesterday we performed three in-school concerts at Litchfield Intermediate School (ASAP Facebook page post is here). Waterbury Symphony started each concert with a fiddle-like piece (the first two concerts with "Hoe-Down" and the third with "Fiddle Faddle) which I think the audience liked. The ASAP/WSO Side-by-Side part was very successful and I am so proud of the students' performance!
We will be playing the final and public concert tonight at Litchfield Intermediate School. It will be sad to end the journey -- it has been a great pleasure for me to work with the dedicated participants! But I hope that the participants will keep learning and playing and return to the program next year.
