GBYO

So on Mondays I have been going with Ryan and Nina to help coach sectionals for the Greater Boulder Youth Orchestras. The older group is around 11 years of age, and the younger group is just starting out with tape still on their fingerboards. We've done seating auditions for both groups now. Being on the other side of an audition was interesting. Some of the kids are really cute or they made funny mistakes, but luckily I didn't feel the need to laugh too much. We joke a bit about crushing kids' dreams, but we've taken it pretty seriously and done our best.

Nina is so much better prepared for teaching kids than either Ryan or I are. "So, can anyone tell me what the dynamic at C is? And what dynamic do you think you played? Do you think we can try it again and this time make sure to play really quietly at C? Remember, how much bow do we use to play quietly? That's right, good job!"

Teaching is every bit as hard as I imagined / feared it would be. I'm not great with coming up with kid friendly mnemonics to help them remember certain things. I guess I would have them play slowly note by note if necessary to get the right notes. And I'd beat out rhythms to help them. And try to show examples of how to play certain passages they are having trouble with. But it's hard to come up with the right words to explain how they can play better.

I'm very grateful for the experience, and we have a pretty good time together. I'd like to continue to volunteer there if I can. I've finally learned all the older kids' names, and hopefully Nina and Ryan and I can build a rapport with them.

In the older group, there are some characters. I'm not sure which one corrected Nina on her pronunciation of Gounod, but there are some smart kids, and a few have an attitude. One kid named Fletcher talks continuously, and tried to impress us with his knowledge of calculus. Good for him, we thought, but we don't really care about his math skills if he's not attentive during our sectional. Even if I have no idea how to effectively run a sectional for kids. The one girl in the older group, Mary Ann, asked me a ton of questions like how old I was and where I was from and why I was there if I wasn't getting paid.

Ryan joked about Chinese mothers and parenting in general after Mary Ann came in for her audition. "You work hard, win concertmaster." I had heard of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and he mentioned that it was a really good book about a Chinese mother's philosophy of parenting. Much of the book is tongue in cheek, and I'd be interested in reading it, if I have time.

Fletcher was unaware of one passage picked for the audition, and not only asked if we were sure, but apologized before and after he played. "I'm deeply sorry that I did so poorly." His tone wasn't very humble, though.

One of the younger kids asked, "So did I fail the audition?"

We scored them with Rhythm, Intonation, Tone, and Musicianship factors, and arrived at a unanimous list to give to the conductor(s). I hope they weren't simply seated from first to last, but were mixed up so that all the weakest players aren't all in the back together.

Decklin, the youngest kid in the older group, when asked in his audition to play the beginning of the Telemann overture they were playing (Don Quixote) said, "You want me to play from nothing to B?" "Yes, play from the beginning to B, please," Ryan repeated, and we tried not to laugh.

I hope we teach them well. They are good kids.