Parking spaces become scarce, the evening crowd at Standing Stone Coffee Company increases, and the calendar is chuck full. It looks like Juniata College students are back!
Wind Symphony Spring 2009
The beginning of the semester also means the beginning of Juniata College Wind Symphony rehearsals. Even though it’s a credit class for students, community members and staff members, like myself, and join the group as well. The first day of classes was also the first day back playing the euphonium after a long summer’s break from tooting.
Two things knocked my socks off. The first was the gigantic size of the group. We are now at 107 members! Remember, this is a college without a music major program. Three new members happen to be in the euphonium section, making a rousing total of five participants in the row. It will be a delight to know more about these 3 new players, playing together, making mistakes together and sharing a euphonium player’s gold – valve oil.
As I scanned the group I also noticed familiar faces from the Environmental Science and Services Inbound Group from last week! One was even sitting behind me playing tuba – go figure!
The second thing surprising to me was the simple fact of creating music. While sight-reading a piece with the group, I was struck with the reality about how much I enjoyed the group. Often times the rehearsals and expectations and challenges can be time consuming and I start to wonder if the toot is worth the time. But after an evening of creating music, learning new names, and seeing old faces, how could I say no?
