Outdoor summer concerts in the park are always fun. Of course you invariably have mother nature to compete with, especially the wind. Honestly though, this year the wind wasn’t too bad. The biggest challenge is moving your clothespins fast enough to turn your page, getting your music clipped again before it blows away and playing your next entrance on time. It feels like a musical race, so to speak.
This concert was a musical celebration of the 250th anniversary of America. It was nice to enjoy some traditional classics such as America the Beautiful, Battle Hymn of the Republic, songs from West Side Story, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and of course, the Stars and Stripes Forever. Regrettably, I didn’t get a photo of our flute section playing our three piccolos for the famous piccolo solo. But that’s okay, it was still enjoyable. An audience member commented how it was fun to hear the three piccolos playing. I thought, “If you couldn’t hear the three piccolos, then maybe you should visit a hearing specialist, haha.”
We also played the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky. If you look closely enough on either side of the orchestra, you can see some mini canons. They might look mini, but they were programmed to make some real canon sounds at the appropriate time in the music. It was awesome to actually have canons going off. Admittedly, the first one took me by surprise. Even though I knew it was coming, it was much louder than I was expecting. But it was an amazing feeling playing the incredible music while they were sounding off. What a genius composer!
Another fun thing about an outdoor venue such as this is to see all the families with young children come who might not otherwise be able to sit through a formal concert in a formal setting. I love the feeling of community and friendship that these events naturally bring. As we were playing, I thought to myself, “This is one of the reasons I love playing the flute. I love sitting in the center of the orchestra and making music with my colleagues and having family and friends come enjoy the music.”
May God Bless America!!
Lynette Lewis Flute Studio 