Knoxville, May 1st

We are looking forward to offering our first SCOR! Workshop in Knoxville, TN this coming Saturday, May 1st. Thanks to Kathleen Bowman and her wonderful help in breaking into this area. Off to Knoxville!

A few stories from Atlanta

A funny thing happened at the Main Street Symphony rehearsal last week! Conductor Dana had us work with the group on my piece, "Blessing & Celebration". When they were about to work on Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik" next, Dana casually said..."The next composer is unavailable." I really cracked up that time...

Jo is a wonderful lady from Alabama who joined our Atlanta workshop for the second year in a row. Jo started playing the violin 4 years ago in an instructional group directed by Anne Witt near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Jo began playing for a folks in a local nursing home, at first by herself, bringing great joy to the residents. She then branched out and started a little informal group of local string players, which she now writes musical arrangements for. The whole group now frequents the nursing home, benefitting all who listen and participate. What an adventuresome lady! Thanks, Jo, for inspiring us!

After being a violin mom for 15 years, Nancy missed the sounds of string & orchestral music when her son grew up. She mentioned starting the cello, and was really committed when her husband bought her one for her birthday! Now, 7 years later, she has fallen in love with the cello, and is an enthusiastic member of several local groups as well as an invaluable participant in SCOR! programs (see picture below of Nancy with her cello award). She has improved in a myriad of ways in just the last few years, and continues valiantly toward her goal of sounding like Yo-yo Ma. Nancy, keep being inspiring!

Huthmakers

Dixie Huthmaker, matron of Huthmaker Violins, with us in their shop.

Huthmaker Violins where we did our Benefit Concert & Atlanta Workshop this year.

The always enthusiastic Nancy Mack (our Atlanta SCOR! cellist, fan & volunteer!) with her prized "Cello Award". (last year)

Atlanta Cello Project Concert

Atlanta Cello Project

We got to go to the Atlanta Cello Project concert on Sunday. What a great group of cellists! They play for fun, sort of like a cello club, and gave a wonderful concert of music for cello ensemble. We were able to meet some SCOR! workshop attendees from last year, and some enthusiastic teachers & players.

Thank you, Atlanta Cello Project!

Saturday's SCOR! Workshop Atlanta

On Saturday, we presented our second SCOR! Workshop Atlanta. What a wonderful group of people!!! Most were members of the Main Street Symphony, whose rehearsal we visited last week. Ginger & Denise were violinists that had played through school and much of their lives. Marcia, Jungsoon, and Nancy all started cello in their 50+ years. Jo is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and drove all the way in to Atlanta for this concert & workshop. What an enthusiastic bunch.

We started with "how to get better faster" - a session on practicing, and I have already gotten some positive feedback from participants who thought the session was really helpful! We also played Tribal Warfare, another piece of mine, and that was so much fun! We sounded pretty good, too! The afternoon brought some sight-reading, Unlocking of the Mind (working on overcoming mental obstacles in playing & performing), some sight-reading tips and tension-relieving technique lessons. We had so much fun!

Thank you to all who participated. Looking forward to seeing you at our next camp/workshop in the southeast!

Benefit Concert on Friday

On Friday night, we (Kyle & Beth) played a SCOR! Benefit Concert at Huthmaker Violins. They were nice enough to let us use their newly rennovated downstairs facility. We were able to share several original compositions, classical duets, sacred arrangements, and a free improvisation. How fun! Some generous donations to the organization were a wonderful surprise! Thank you to all who came!

Atlanta events

We are busily preparing for our Atlanta events this week - a concert on Friday night (7:30PM at Huthmaker Violins, 3140 Main St., Duluth)and a Saturday workshop at the same location. We got a couple more registrations for the workshop in the last few days, and are looking forward to sharing this with several Atlanta-area (& beyond) string players.

Main Street Symphony Visit

Last night Kyle & I attended a rehearsal of the Main Street Symphony in Duluth, GA, north of Atlanta. What a wonderful group of folks! Director Dana was spectacular, and the group was friendly, laid back, and lots of fun! I had the privelege of listening to them perform my piece - Blessing & Celebration. We gave them a few performance tips & played for them, and got to meet many wonderful folks and invite them to our upcoming SCOR! events in Atlanta. How special!

Scoping

Kyle & I are looking for more places to do SCOR! Workshops and camps, so for the last few weeks, we have had an opportunity to check out places like Savannah, GA, and Sarasota & St. Petersburg, FL. We had a nice visit with Debbie Paradise and Pete Smith, SCOR! Campers from Punta Gorda, FL, and they were able to share lots of valuable insights on the greater Sarasota area. So far we have talked to several colleges about facility use. All these cities are coastal, so we think it would be awesome to find a location near water! Do these sound like places you would want to go? We enjoyed our time checking out these different possibilities.

SCOR! Workshop Cincinnati

Breaking news...looks like we're on for a May 8 SCOR! Workshop in Cincinnati, OH. We are looking forward to seeing some of our friends there from last year's workshop! Thanks to Rob & Bob for helping make arrangements! On the road again...

SCOR! Rochester - Are You Coming?

As we sit in our RV in a mall parking lot in Florida, working on SCOR! Rochester for this summer, we are wondering... are you thinking about registering for SCOR! Rochester this summer but just haven’t gotten around to it? We are eager to share the SCOR! Rochester 2010 experience with more of you! We are running an Easter Weekend special, which is our largest savings of the spring. Details of this special are listed below. I hope you can join us! In the meantime, happy music making!


Rochester Camp + Pre-Camp = $40 Savings!
Register & pay online at www.stringcamp.com.
Use coupon code “easterweekendonly” with Google checkout to claim your $40 savings.
Act Now! Offer expires Sunday evening, 4/4/10.

How do I Get My Discount?
This offer is valid exclusively via online payment (using your credit/debit card) through Google checkout. To pay using Google checkout, simply use the ‘add to cart’ buttons on the registration page of our website, www.stringcamp.com. You must put at least the SCOR! Base Tuition and a Pre-Camp program in your cart in order to use the coupon. Enter the coupon during checkout with Google. (Lodging & Meals payments are not due until later.)

Learning

After the Maryland Workshop, we received a comment from a string teacher who attended, and has attended SCOR! Rochester for 6 summers. She said "Every year I've learned something new." Isn't that cool? We hope to be able to provide that for so many levels of players, and we are certainly glad when it works!