I've been feeling so ridiculously sentimental that I can hardly believe it.
AYO's pretty much over now - Concert at the Town Hall on Saturday was EFFING FANTASTIC. Good turn-out in terms of audience; the Stalls and the Circle all was fairly full, which was a really nice change to the "crowds" of about 30 that came to the concerts in Tauranga and Hamilton!
This programme has been so insanely demanding: AYO camp on the last weekend of the holidays, then over the last three weeks we've had a tour every weekend somewhere in the North Island, and then there was the concert on Saturday. And in between each of these weekends I've had a test, and this week I have three. *spaaaaaz*
It's partly why I'm quitting next year; I don't think I'll be able to keep up. Also, so many friends are leaving again, that next year the orchestra's going to be very, very different. (Again!)
Anyway, here's the poster for the last programme I played in!!
I miss heaps of people in AYO already :(
In fact I had so much fun on Saturday that I was feeling pretty damn crap about leaving! But it's just not going to be the same next year. I think it's probably like how people felt about leaving high school. I've never properly missed any school I went to; but I have been in an orchestra for longer than I've attended any one institution, so maybe this is why.
I'm also going to miss the music - not just the way that the sound an orchestra makes can be so evocative and paint such vivid pictures in one's mind, but the all the work that's put into making the music up to that standard. In particular, I love listening to piano concertos, and listening to the soloist play while we rehearse is just so fun. And to me, they're one of the most beautiful things in the world when they're played by the right soloist! [You know which one :)]
Good news - we are playing again this Thursday at 8.30pm in the city again, this time in Victoria Park Market (...or somewhere in Wellesley Street), because some graffiti artists want to promote us, or use our music to promote them, or something. :D hooray! so it's not completely over just yet!
Promotional video for this event (you can see me at 0.11!)
http://vimeo.com/15815835
I now have this urge to rummage through all my old emails from AYO Weekly and reminisce.
I think I've been doing that a lot this year - missing and reminiscing
