Every December, Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia (SOGO) puts on a brass festival to showcase the talented young musicians in the organization. Brass instrument players from the Academy and Conservatory levels practice for several weeks, with a performance the next-to-last weekend before the winter break.
We enjoy their performances, of course, and eagerly await this pleasant two hours.
Here is a short montage of the music from last Saturday. It’s about 8 minutes long — three familiar tunes. Unfortunately, the audio quality is poor (and tinny) because we forgot the real video camera this year. This is taken from my ipad’s built-in video recorder.
Whole group first, then just the trombones (my kiddo had a nice solo in that piece), then just the trumpets (my other kiddo sat in with the group though he has “graduated” from this orchestra).
SOGO “HOHO” 2012 youtube link.
A piece I have loved for many years (that is not part of this montage) is Mark Thome’s arrangement of Little Drummer Boy. He wrote this a number of years ago, and we were there at the world premier, performed by SOGO kids. It makes use of a “bolero” rhythm, and was unlike anything else I had ever heard. It is magical. Mark is the official “composer in residence” for SOGO, and we are so grateful to have his talents!
If you have a young musician (there is a full orchestra with strings for each level as well as the brass sections) who would like to have a chance to play outside of school — in a caring, supportive atmosphere with professional musicians and teachers, then I highly recommend SOGO to you. The next concert will be in March, and they do occasionally have students begin mid-year.