Making Musical Memories
The holidays are in full swing here at The Phoenix Symphony! That means the sounds of the holidays are right around the corner with our Christmas Pops performances, Messiah and Baroque Christmas. Along with these performances, thousands of children will also descend on downtown Phoenix to hear a holiday program as part of the Symphony for the Schools this Wednesday and Thursday at Symphony Hall. In honor of the occasion, we thought we would share remarks from some special audience members, teachers and students in the community. Students and teachers from Destiny Community School attended our Symphony for the Schools in late September and Mrs. Brooks-Dowty was kind enough to pass this on to us. We are happy to share this with you and pass on our sincere thanks to music educators everywhere that help us share our common passion for music!_________________________________________
Dear Friends at The Phoenix Symphony,
I just wanted to join my students in thanking you from the bottom of our hearts for giving the Symphony for the Schools Concerts! I wish you could all come to my classroom to personally witness the impact that the music has had on my students. We studied the music for weeks before the field trip and it was such an enriching experience for them. At the opening notes to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, it brought tears to my eyes to see several of my students turn around with their eyes like saucers and whisper, “Beethoven’s Fifth! I love this song!” I know it must be a logistical nightmare to coordinate all the students, teachers, and drivers – and a pain to coordinate all the rehearsals, but those 45 minutes will forever be remembered by the students from Destiny Community School. They can still name any piece from the concert (and the composer) after listening to just a few seconds!
Mrs. Alyssa Brooks-Dowty
Music Teacher
Destiny Community School
1 Comments:
"Against the Grain" back again for comment...
I just wanted to make some (belated) comments about the "Pops" Christmas concert this year.
Overall, a very nice concert, but not the blockbuster last year. Yes, I LOVED last year's concert, hence my "Against the Grain" moniker.
The Hanukkah numbers were very nice, I'm glad to see some multiculturalism. That was probably the only thing missing from last year's concert.
The Desert Bells kids were cute, but I could have lived with less of them. "Carol of the Bells" was especially painful, as the orchestra had to play so slowly in order to accommodate the bell choir.
It was a wonderful surprise to hear "The Hallelujah Trail." The only other real standout was the opening number by Rimsky-Korsakov. The rest was standard Christmas-pops stuff. (Although, I'm not complaining about hearing beloved chestnuts like "Waltz of the Flowers" and "Hallelujah Chorus.")
But, nothing moved me to tears like last year's "O Magnum Mysterium."
Well, there's still the Baroque Christmas concert this weekend. It looks like an exciting program. If the music is as good as last year's it will be a night to remember.
This year's pops concert doesn't fall in that category, unfortunately.
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