13.4.17

Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra Discovery Concert

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to take one of my best girls to the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra Discovery Concert.

I'd been looking forward to this for quite some time, and I was really excited to attend with Hannah Kate.  If it were up to me, I'd have season tickets to the orchestra AND the local Broadway series.  But my guy doesn't quite (yet) have an appreciation for the fine arts so I'd be going by myself.

My plan all along has been to instill a love of the theater and music in Hannah Kate in the hopes that she and I will one day have season tickets together.  Mason and Ellie are more than welcome, too, but I think my best chance is with Hannah Kate.

Before the concert, all of the children were divided into small groups.  Each group had the opportunity to experience three of the instruments "up close and personal."  Hannah Kate is familiar with some of them, but she learned something new.  She didn't know what the bassoon was or what it sounded like.  She got a kick out of this one.  It really is a funny instrument.

And then we got to experience the harp.  My piano teacher plays the harp and actually played at my wedding reception.  It's such a beautiful instrument.

And here's where I learned something.  The percussionist did an outstanding job talking to the children and demonstrating several of her different instruments.  I typically don't think much beyond the drums, timpani and cymbals, but she was so interesting and so much fun.

And then the concert began.  It really was an outstanding event.  The full orchestra was not in attendance, but all of the instruments were represented.  They told the story of "Peter and the Wolf" in song.

Each instrument represented a different character in the story.  Before the story began, each instrumentalist played a little demonstration so the kids could hear exactly what the instruments would sound like.

One of the opera singers was there as the narrator.  So she would read a bit of the story and then the orchestra would play what she just read.

They also had some beautiful artwork to help the kids visualize each scene they were listening to.

The whole thing was absolutely precious, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After it was over, I asked Hannah Kate what she thought of it and what her favorite instrument was.  Her answer surprised me a bit.  She said she wanted to learn to play the flute!  I can understand why.  The flute had several really beautiful parts.  

So now I have a child who wants to play the violin and another who wants to play the flute.  You have no idea how excited that makes me!