Tag: AYO

Concert Season

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
 “TYWS” Austin, 2020

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Koa is participating in both the Austin Youth Orchestra and Texas Youth Wind Symphony this year, and they both had concerts recently. AYO is an orchestra, which means there are strings, wind, brass, and percussion instruments. TYWS on the other hand has no strings (although there was a single bass for the concert). I love to hear the strings, but I enjoyed listening to the band more. I suppose it’s because the percussion section is more prominent in band, and Koa is a percussionist.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
 “AYO” Austin, 2020

During the high school marching season, the winds, brass, and percussion kids are focused on marching competitions and football games, so the orchestra goes all-string (from what I understand). But once marching season is over, the orchestra is supplemented by the band kids, and I hear that the orchestra kids enjoy a more dynamic arrangement. I thought it was interesting. Before Koa was in band, I just assumed an orchestra had all instruments and didn’t know the distinction between band and orchestra. Both are really awesome!

Here are a couple of animations auto-created by Google Photos. I like to shoot in burst mode, then upload all the images to my Google Photos account and see what kind of animations it makes. The first is of Koa on snare, and the second is when we was on crash cymbals.

“Snare” Austin, 2020
“Crash Cymbal” Austin, 2020

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

AYO Grand Finale Concert

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"Austin Youth Orchestra" Austin, 2019
“Austin Youth Orchestra” Austin, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

What a busy, but great day, we had! Koa had a percussion competition in the morning down at Texas State University in San Marcos, then in the afternoon, he performed in the Grand Finale Concert of the Austin Youth Orchestra. After that, we headed back down to San Marcos for a percussion master class, and then we found out the results of the competition. And the results were great – Koa received 4th place (out of 29) for his marimba performance!

Not only was the competition great, but the Austin Youth Orchestra performances were fantastic as well. Koa played timpani in a Stravinsky tune (which was really fun to watch), and snare drum in a Tchaikovsky tune. It was awesome. If you have a few moments, give them a watch/listen:

The grand finale concert marks the end of the spring session, and I am pretty sure Koa will want to join AYO again next year. I am happy and amazed that his level is so high at just his freshman year. Looking forward to his future!

またね～