All State Orchestra

After she was done with her morning rehearsal on concert day, The Banana changed into her concert black and she and I waited in the hotel lobby while Dr. Peds picked up the Devious Snail and Aumnee. She threw on her sweatshirt, and because she didn’t want to wear her black shoes yet, she wore mismatched socks and her pink slide sandals. “Who knows what I might do next?” she said. “I could ride a donkey (Carhartt sweatshirt), play the violin (black skirt) or head to the beach!” There was much gallivanting involved. She’s always entertaining.

The All State bands performed first at the concert. I loved listening! The stage was reset for the orchestra and then all of the instrumentalists came out to warm up and tune.

They played wonderfully. The music sounded extraordinary in such a great acoustical space. It was so fun to sit there listening knowing all the years and years of hard work that goes into playing that well, and seeing the very best players in the state play together. It was also a little crazy to watch your own child playing in orchestra hall!

(For the record, YaYa also played oboe in orchestra hall when she was in college orchestra, but I was not there to see it!)

After the concert some of the musicians took pictures on the stage, including The Banana and her fun group of orchestra friends.

They concluded by taking a picture of her roommate from summer all-state camp lying on the stage in “an exhausted state” with pages of their music covering her. Even the stage hand had to laugh, and took a picture for himself with his phone.