This week I have the best job. I play Violin in the Wichita Symphony and perform for a full house of school children six different times for our Young People’s Concerts. Students travel on buses and eagerly await this field trip all year; I know because I saw the symphony play in grade school myself.
I rehearse with former teachers, mentors and friends who care about each other, so when we play together it’s not just another gig, we are making the music come alive and telling it in our own new way.
The sound of an Orchestra changes when playing to a full house with an electricity in the air that can’t be measured. Musicians respond to that with even more energy and passion in our playing. We sound our best when every seat is filled and it’s up to the community to help us sound our best-not just when we perform Young People’s Concerts or when a famous guest artist comes to town, but for all of the concerts that we work so hard to prepare.
We play two concerts each day for three days, which makes 6 total. Sometimes it may seem dull to play the same concert the fifth or sixth time until you look until the audience which is jam packed with REALLY excited school children ages 3rd through 8th grade.
The Wichita Symphony www.wso.org performs and inspires around 25,000 kiddos each year with a fall and spring program. That’s a LOT of kids and buses to arrange, and our Amazing Operations Manager Anne Marie Brown along with Linda Johnson and the Women’s Association make it all happen with hours of prep and lots of volunteers. As you can imagine, it takes a huge amount of money to produce something like this, so we have some great sponsors as well.
The Musicians all get so tired after our normal jobs plus rehearsing at night.
So we really enjoy our break between concerts when the Women’s Association of the Wichita Symphony spoils us with a very nice reception.
Many musicians have to rush off to their normal 9-5 jobs, so this serves as our lunch, and we look forward to it so much!
As you can see, they really put a lot of love into our hospitality!
