3/4's at Carnegie Hall

“On May 26th and 27th, the EMS 3rd and 4th grader participated in Carnegie Hall's LinkUP! Program. The 3rd graders participated from the audience, while the 4th graders were performing as the select student group onstage with The Orchestra of St. Luke's. The curriculum, which they have worked on since January, was called "Orchestra ROCKS!!" and included original compositions by Thomas Cabaniss called "Drumlines" and "Come to Play" as well as the famous "In C" by Terry Riley. They also listened to the orchestra play "Mars, from The Planets" by Gustav Holst, with a multi-media presentation that included a Star Wars themed montage of rocket ships and outer space.

Because we were sitting in front of the percussion section, the children were given earplugs to have onstage. During a piece by Dmitri Shostokovich, called "The Nose," the percussion gets extremely loud, so we were instructed to put them in. The students all performed beautifully, both in the audience and onstage, and as we left the stage, the Carnegie Hall staff shouted, "Bye Elisabeth Morrow School, you are our FAVORITE school who comes to play!! Awesome job!!"

The 4th graders loved the magnificent view of the hall, seeing the red velvet seats, hearing the pieces, and they especially loved seeing that behind music stands, the professional musicians were sometimes reading, (or even checking their phones) while they were not playing a piece.

Many thanks to all the violin teachers who accompanied the students. The 4th graders enjoyed a celebratory Pizza Party with their classmates and teachers. A special thank you to Teddi Hunter who provided ice cream sandwiches to the 4th graders on Thursday.

We all had a wonderful time and hope to go to 2011 "Orchestra SINGS" next year!!”

~Mrs. White