Downtown Summer Strings

Last week I played in a concert with Downtown Summer Strings. It's a cool camp put on by the Toronto District School Board. All of the kids there play string instruments - violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. We got together for two weeks to prepare.

I was in the more advanced group this year. We played songs like Gotye's "Somebody that I used to know" arranged by J. Zaza, "A Baroque Bagatelle" by O. Goldsmith and "Beginning Bartok".
Both the less advanced and the more advanced groups got together and played "Sonata Vivant" by E. Del Borgo and "Swallow Tail" arranged by Ian Guenther.

There is one day in the camp that is different from anything I've done anywhere else. It's "Stuffed Thing Day". On that day we all carry a Stuffed Thing and they get prizes. This year my Stuffed Thing got a prize for "Best Name". His name was Alexander the Great Ape. :-) We even have a mini-concert for our Stuffed Things.

I love everything about the camp. I especially love when we all get together and play in the really big group. I love being around so many people who love music! And I love that we all get to perform together for all the parents and friends at the concert.

Here are some pictures from after the concert. 

I was surprised to see Marie Gelinas and Ed Hayes at the concert. I get to see Marie at the TSO all the time and they both came to my school when I was young to play. It was really cool being able to perform for them. 

This is Sylvia and she volunteered for the first time this year.

Andres is our resident comedian and cellist. 

 

Felix is a cellist as well and he also keeps us laughing.

Rebecca led the more advanced students.

And we would be completely lost without Ian.

And here is a picture of me with my Mom and Dad. :-) 

Here is a link to my blog post from last year's Summer Strings camp.
http://joshdlee.blogspot.ca/2013/07/summer-strings.html