The first part was typed from the futon in my lounge room, but this second part will be typed from the bedroom today as I am sitting in bed sick. There was a flu flying around to staff from the Riverina camp and it looks like it has caught me. No, it's not swine flu so I should be alright. The weather wasn't the best with it being cold and wet, but this did not dampen anyone's spirits.
With 55 students in attendance, slightly down on numbers, and some of the senior students absent, the general thoughts from all of the staff was that this was a very successful camp. And if you don't believe the staff, then perhaps you could ask the parents of the students that attended the rehearsal given or even the regional director who was noticeably pleased and full of praise for the program.
Essentially the same repertoire was brought from New England to Riverina, although a couple of other charts were taken out and replace by others. An advanced ensemble was formed with several representatives for the state wind bands next month. There was a mentioning from the director that in the 65 person senior ensemble, there were 13 representatives from Riverina. This is a fantastic achievement.
I don't think you could have asked for a better group of students than what we had. I was very impressed with the students we had last year, but this year everyone took their discipline, ensemble skills, and performance skills to a new level. The staff didn't even have to patrol the rooms in the freezing cold past midnight to make sure everyone was going to sleep.
The clarinet section I was given was well balanced and supportive of each other. We had students ranging from year four through to eleven with different levels of ability. Normally there is a saying that your group/team is as strong as its weakest participant; the weakest link effect. However, ability was no boundary to the students that took part as it became more about a question of commitment and effort over effort. We had some little clarinets in the third row, but they kept giving their parts a real good go and achieved a lot of aspects about their playing by the end of the week. Who would've thought that the third row of young ones would be playing 3-5 star charts with the rest of the band by the end of the week?! Two bass clarinets went from sounding like one thin instrument to a section of four by the end of the week. The only disappointment I had was that I didn't really get to work with the first clarinets as much as I would have liked to. With that said, the first clarinets did take on some responsibility of their own learning about leadership within a section and overseeing a whole ensemble (i.e. the concert band). If we can get more clarinets next year then I would be all for a second clarinet tutor to come along in attendance.
Another great selection of staff. Everyone worked really with their sections, and even unearthed some new talents and abilities of their own. No, I'm not referring to the students within sections. The Riverina camp would have to have the best table tennis players you have ever come across. Two of the DET staff emerged victorious over two of the travelling tutorial staff in high level competition using budget paddles and a stiff wooden net. Over twenty games were played with the DET staff winning by 2-3 games. There are currently discussions about hosting a table tennis camp next year with concert band for sport and rec.
The Riverina touring ensemble has been selected, and the state nominations will be made based on the students attending the tour. Good luck to all the students that will be taking part in the tour later this year.
As the Riverina camp came to a close, the North Coast camp started two days later on the 3rd of May. With students attending from the Clarence Valley, I will be very interested to hear what they have achieved and what the current program is like. They will be holding their recital tonight at Lake Ainsworth giving a concert to the parents. Last year was an incredibly low point in the North Coast program, so hopefully there will be some improvement.
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