May 26, 2011 10:41 a.m.

Okay, so we did it.  Yesterday Chips and Sweet Girl auditioned for a certain youth orchestra in a city near us.  It turns out their auditions were received well by the directors.  Extremely well.  So Sweet Girl now has the opportunity to join an orchestra of her own, and Chips will be able to join a different orchestra that is more geared to his level of playing.  They are both very excited to have been accepted.

Part of our reasons for seeking out orchestra at this time is that we feel our kids would benefit from the positive atmosphere they will encounter there.  It will be good for their skills and talents to be appreciated in different circles than the ones they have been inside to date.  Chips has not found a new chamber group to join, and it doesn’t appear there is going to be anything new starting at church.  Some of the most formidable competitors on the state level are also members of youth orchestras in their cities.  At least two of those have been soloists with their orchestras.  And speaking of state competitions, they haven’t always been very affirming or encouraging experiences for our kids.  It is time to give our children another reason to be proud and excited about violin.

However, the decision to actually join or not join is not one that I am taking lightly.  I need wisdom, here, because there are many things to consider.  First of all, our violin teacher is not going to be happy about it.  She has voiced her concerns about this in the past, concerns that early participation in any orchestra could have a deleterious effect on her students’ technique.  She has also voiced concerns that her students will have less time to work on the music she assigns them, and instead come to her (too much) for assistance with the orchestra music.  I recognize the possibilities here, and plan to have our children learn and practice their orchestra pieces as independently as possible.

But most of all, although she hasn’t said this in so many words, I think she is concerned that orchestra participation will erode the level of influence she has over my children’s violin playing.  And yes, I cannot guarantee against this.  Our teacher is operating in a very different world from the local orchestras.  If her students receive one type of feedback from other adults, and a very different type of feedback from herself, it can have unpredictable results on our children’s attitude about their playing over time. 

As an aside, our teacher is Russian-born and trained, and if I recall correctly, youth orchestras are not a thing in Russia.  They have their reasons for this.

So, we have to think this through.   We definitely need wisdom, as joining an orchestra  is likely to alter our kids’ violin (and perhaps even social) trajectories in ways we cannot anticipate.   We have to make up our minds that we will continue to participate, as before, in state competitions, in order to continue to raise the bar on ourselves to the same extent we have been doing these past 7 years.  We have to continue to make Miss S’s music assignments a first priority, and to uphold the standard she sets, and the respect our children pay her, through the year. 

But first, I have to get past telling her about the auditions.

There is potentially more to say about Chips’ orchestra placement, but I will leave that alone for now until we find out more.