Letter from Tamara (11/7)

Hello Concertino East, we are just one week out from our Orchestra Hall performance.

Last night’s rehearsal had many high, along with some behavior lows. As I said at the end of rehearsal, we are not quite performance-ready. We are close, but I know this group of musicians is capable of a very clean and polished performance of Danse Macabre.

Please spend 10 minutes daily working on whatever part of the piece is most challenging for you. Make sure you have memorized the notes in spots where you need to look up from your parts, such as: rehearsal 2, rehearsal 5, measure before rehearsal 8, measures 5-8 after rehearsal 16, rehearsal 19 and 23 to the end. Use your metronome and set it to 180= quarter note. Violins and winds should focus on 18-21, and cellos and violas should focus on 23-end.

We want to set ourselves up for a positive first performance and this next week of personal practice can really get us over that finish line.
Happy practicing!

Tamara Gonzalez (she/her)
Concertino East-conductor
Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies