Children, Singing and Playing

A truly important part of the conference experience is the opportunity to attend performances of children's ensembles.  Choirs, Orff ensembles, movement and dance ensembles, from  every level of education have been part of conferences past.  This year there were fewer concerts, but the groups were spectacular and because of some serious schedule shifting, audiences were very large.

The Grace Christian School Recorder ensemble played in the conference theater to a standing room only crowd with folks standing outside the door.  The ensemble of middle and high school students performed for 30 minutes.  Most notably, they were joined by their school superintendent on the final song.

The rest of the children's performances that I caught at least parts of were three marimba band/orff ensembles.  Strangely enough there were no children's choirs this year.  I ran into Shirley McRae in the lobby of the DoubleTree and she pointed it to my attention.  Sadly, the cost of bringing an ensemble to the conference has diminished the number of groups that actually apply to attend and perform. Choirs are generally large and therefore expensive if they have to travel very far.   One point might well be that in all but two of the groups, singers were part of the ensemble.  This reflects a truer presentation of the Schulwerk perhaps, but leaves out a very special commodity and area of interest for the conference attendees.  I hope we'll see some choirs in Pittsburgh next year!

Brent with Director, Anita Edwards

The highlight performance for me from the children was the fantastic program presented by the Fremont H. Teed Elementary 6th Grade Orff Percussion Ensemble from Kuna, Idaho, directed by Anita Edwards.  They combined speech, orff instruments and singing in sparkling and fresh arrangements of Orff classics as well as newly composed tunes from composers currently publishing.  (Disclaimer: They performed six pieces written by yours truly.  I was delighted and thoroughly surprised!)

Their arrangements were student/teacher collaborations in the truest sense of Orff Schulwerk.  The orchestrations  were bubbly, and sparkled with the energy and enthusiasm of children led by a teacher in love with their music making, enjoying it thoroughly with spontaneous wonderment and joy.  This truly showed the essence of Orff Schulwerk.

The Fremont H. Teed Orff Ensemble

Serendipity

AOSA conferences are filled with a spirit of serendipity.  Spontaneous meetings with friends, unexpected amazing moments, new discoveries in the cities where the conferences are held, and lots and lots of hugs.

A highlight of this conference was a purely-by-chance meeting with Tom, Rosie, and Bonnie.  Tom plays Irish whistle and bohdran, and Rosie and Bonnie play fiddle.  Tom and Rosie met at the Paul Winter session and began to share tunes.

I immediately found them and borrowed a guitar from Jeffry, a workshop participant.  We moved outside into the hallway where Bonnie found us.  We sat and played for a few minutes until we had to leave for our sessions.  We all traded emails and phone numbers and promised to meet in the same hallway the next day for a longer session.

We eventually were able to have two more sessions of tunes during the rest of the conference.  It was a fun display of spontaneous music making that was appreciated by the folk passing by.  For us it was a lot of fun to have folks stop and listen.  We had a couple of folks stop by and do some Irish dancing!  Very cool.

We've named ourselves "Celtorf" and have promised each other to meet up in Pittsburgh next year.  If any one wants to join us just leave a comment on the blog or email me directly at brentholl@mac.com.

Paul Winter at AOSA in Spokane

For me it has turned into the Paul Winter Conference.  One of the most important principles of Orff-Schulwerk is improvisation and Mr. Winter has made a career of it.  My double session on Thursday was as beautiful a process as I've ever seen as he slowly built our confidence and technique helping us each find our own voices

"Honor the uniqueness of your own voice. There is no competition."

The session began with four participants, in chairs sitting in a square formation.  This began the warm-up.  (The warm-up actually lasted until the final activity more that 2 hours later!)  The lights were dimmed and they were invited to play a long tone on the instruments available.  We had a cello, a recorder, a clarinet and Paul on soprano saxophone.  The four tones were played and a chord was created spontaneously.  At that point and after every stage of the process Mr. Winter would stop, give us his observations and allow the participants to share theirs as well. Some examples from Mr. Winter:

"Your silence is a gift to the ensemble."

"Relax into the space."

"Don't get hung up on semantics, you are simply learning to 'noodle.'"

"Minimize the visual, focus on the aural. It's the listening that brings empowerment.  It's the darkness that brings us into a presence."

The process was thoughtful, introspective, and meditative, touching each of us in our own creative spirit. The process continued with short tones, loud tones, and quiet tones. All of us were invited to participate in this process and we all shared our four person improvisations.

As the session neared the end of the warm-up, he invited us to participate in a group improvisation.  The entire event lasted approximately 10 minutes and encompassed a wide range of human interaction. There were the loud voices, the soft voices, the impatient voices, the persistent voices, the patient voices and finally, the community voice.

Mr. Winter's final comment: "Each of you is right with how you want it to be."

Truer words were never spoken.

At Last, The Conference

Children's Art Decorates the Hallways

The official part of the conference for us usually begins on Wednesday evening with the opening display of exhibits and a reception, followed by dinner with a group of friends that we meet up with at this session.  This year's conference is a little different because the exhibits are not going to be open until Thursday evening.  The AOSA scheduled two group sessions on Wednesday evening that were designed to get folks together and do some mixers and group activities.  Jim Solomon led a Drum Jam and the Amidon's lead some group singing and dancing to close the evening.

We had our usual dinner with friends and attended the late session.  This of course was after our tour of Grand Coulee so we suffered a bit of travel fatigue.  I like the Wednesday group sessions idea and in my observations, they were very well attended.

Thursday included sessions all day which for me, starting with learning about the Promethean whiteboard system, moving on to interesting and creative ways to adapt modal pieces from the Orff volumes, and two sessions with the improvisation master, Paul Winter.

The whiteboard session was interesting because of the prevalence of these learning tools in classrooms around the country.  Beatin' Path Publications has released several books including ready-made visuals specifically for whiteboards.  According to feedback in the session this is a great idea and folks appreciate having ready made flip charts that they can feed directly into the white board software.

Paul Winter's sessions were worth the price of admission, definitely the highlight of the conference for me.  The three hour session took us from the very beginnings of improvisation to a full-fledged group improvisation session at the end, with the final experience a vocal improv based on the drone and the major scale.  Amazing!

Paul Winter and his Consort will be doing the Friday evening concert.

More Pictures of the Conference can by found at my Mobile Me Conference Gallery.

AOSA 2010 - Grand Coulee Dam

Sage Brush Seeds.  This plant was common
along the roads and across the prairie.

Today we rose a little later after a good night's sleep and drove 88 miles through the countryside to The Grand Coulee Dam.  What an amazing, technological wonder.  The dam was built in the 30's  as a way to help farmers irrigate their land.  It has been a major success as the Columbia River system now provides a huge percentage of the nation's farm products.

The Fog Covered River

The sights began shortly after we left Spokane. The roads were so straight, the dotted yellow line in the middle turned into a solid yellow ribbon. The fields of grain along the side of the road were yellow with last year's crop and, at the same time green with next year's.  The purple mountains in the near distance faded into snow capped peaks in the far away distance. We passed  a fog covered river, the thick cloud blanket completely obscured the water below.  The sky was wide, clear, and vibrant blue the weather once again was our friend.

Grant Lake behind Coulee Dam

As we approached the Dam, we began to see glimpses of Lake Roosevelt.  We finally drove up to the dam and went into the Visitor Center.  I signed the guest book and left a comment, "This is a techological marvel and a worthy stimulus project."

The Spillway

Michael Looks Down on the Spillway

We were able to get a tour of the Dam.  We visited the huge room with 6 humming generators of immense size.  Our guide filled us in on the magnificent power of the water that turns them converting the water's energy into electricity.  We finished our tour by driving along the top of the dam, stopping to view the spillway.

We finished our tour with a recommendation for lunch from Sean, our tour guide.  We ate at a little Pizzeria in the town of Grand Coulee.

The Town of Grand Coulee and the Bridge 

We're back in Spokane now, we've returned our rental car and we are ready for a great AOSA conference.  The next installments of the blog will be news and pics of the conference as they happen.

You can find more pictures of the Grand Coulee excursion on my Spokane Gallery, Grand Coulee

AOSA 2010 - The Columbia Gorge

Wind Farms

Combine the most beautiful scenery with some good company and an absolutely perfect day of weather and you have the makings of a very successful road trip.  The Columbia River Gorge is one of the most scenic places on earth and our weather was the rarest of the best on the this second day of November, 2010. Sunny and warm with only a hint of a breeze.  The windmills on the ridges around the edges of the gorge were barely moving.

Ritzville Main Street

The sun shone warm our faces as we drove the three hours from Spokane to the town of Pasco near the beginning of the gorge.  We stopped first in a little town called Ritzville just an hour out of town.  We found the historic downtown section and a nice little grocery store where we were able to buy some supplies for the day.  It was the only place open on the whole street. 

The town was established by nurseryman and florist, Philip Ritz.  We found his statue on Frontier Square.  After a nice walk around town, we headed down route 395 for Pasco, one of the Tri-Cities at the bend in the Columbia River.

First View of the Columbia River

Just outside of town on Route 12, we got our first glimpse of the Columbia River.  We all thought it was quite majestic and beautiful as we stopped and snapped our first batch of pictures.  I have been through the gorge once before and I told my travel companions, Michael Nichols, Judy Burnett, and Gretchen Jensen that it would only get better, more majestic and rugged, and more beautiful as we would make our way west.

Colors on the River

As we travelled farther west my prediction proved true.  We traveled on Highway 14 on the Washington side of the gorge.  This was the "high" side and the scenery was magnificent.  Around each bend and over each hill the views simply took our breath away.  The joke of the day was "Stop the car! There's another photo op!"  The Columbia River itself is a deep blue, matching the cloudless sky.  The mountains, rocks and ridges added contrasting colors, while the leaves on the grapevines, and islands of trees add some magnificent fall colors to the scenes.

After a quick lunch at Paterson's Diner, we were back on the road for The Dalles.  This was our turning point.

Our destination for the day.

We started out at 8:00 this morning and arrived here at around 2:45.  We crossed the river and drove home to a fine dinner at Shenanigan's Irish Pub.  Another great day!

Tomorrow we'll head northwest to the Grand Coulee Dam and surrounding area.  We'll see what we can find!

More pictures can be found on my Spokane Gallery - Columbia Gorge.

Michael, Gretchen and Judy.

Day 1 in Spokane

Red Lion River Inn

Sleeping in is a rare privilege.  After finally turning in at 3:57 AM body time, (12:57 PM PST) I felt like it was worth it to sleep till about 9:30.  My body has adjusted to the time lag and hooray!  We're ready to go see the town of Spokane.

After a good breakfast buffet at the Red Lion River Inn, we set out to walk to the Visitor Center to find some things to do.  Michael and I have often used this strategy when we travel.  The folks we find there are always helpful and pretty soon we have a full itinerary.  Our helper this time, found us some maps and made some great suggestions.

We've decided to rent a car and head southwest tomorrow morning to the great Columbia River Gorge.  We'll leave as early as we can get the car and return when we're tired of driving. On Wednesday we'll take the car northwest to the Grand Coulee Dam to see the sights and take a tour.  Wednesday evening the conference will begin, so we'll be back in time to return the car and attend the opening group sessions.

After leaving the Visitor Center, Michael and I made for the Post Office to pick up a few flat rate boxes and postage.  We'll ship any items we buy that we can't fit in our luggage for the trip home. We headed for Riverside Park just as it began to rain.

Riverside Park

I had forgotten my umbrella, so off we went on an umbrella hunt.  We wanted to walk through the park and look at the sights.  We found a sweet little game store called, Uncles Games.  I walked in and asked if they had any umbrellas for sale.  They had a costume umbrella that looked like a sword for 30 bucks so I passed.  Then to my amazement the young clerk went to a corner of the store and brought me a battered and worn golf umbrella and said, "Here you go.  Take mine."  I was a little dumfounded but I took the umbrella and gave him a 10 dollar bill, and walked away with a smile.  I'm pretty sure I'll return the umbrella before Sunday when I leave.

We walked to Riverside Park.  The colors were beautiful and Michael and I enjoyed walking and taking pictures.  The most famous sculpture in the park is the famous "Red Wagon."

We walked through the park and met up with friends, Gretchen Jensen and Judy Burnett at the very nice pub, Shenanigans.  We had a nice lunch and planned our Tuesday and Wednesday itinerary.  They agreed to join us on the trip and we're happy to split the cost of the rental car four ways.  It will be a very nice way to see the lay of the land.

Off to Spokane

Trips to conference are sometimes pretty interesting and sometimes uneventful.  In 2005, the year of  Katrina, the conference was in Birmingham, Alabama.  I drove from Bridgewater to New Orleans to visit my daughter just two months after the storm. Driving across the old Route 11 bridge over Lake Pontchartrain past houses, autos, and buildings that had been swept off their foundations and covered with debris and driving through the city to the garden district was one of the most poignant and emotion-filled journeys of my life. After a visit of a day and a half, I collected my daugher Jessica and we attended the conference together.

The trip home from that conference was one of the most beautiful drives I can remember.  In the South, the leaves had just reached full color and the mountains of Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia were incredible that year.

This year's trip was of the uneventful nature.  Because we're here near the West Coast (on the sunny side of the state), the trip took  about 15 hours from the time I left Bridgewater until I arrived at my hotel in Spokane.  I drove to Dulles, stopped over in Denver and then on to Spokane.  My good friend from the Virginia Highlands Chapter, Gretchen Jensen, had already arrived and texted me at Dulles before the plane left.  I'm sure we'll meet up at the conference along with many old and new friends.  Early birding, is what I've been doing for years and Gretchen has caught the bug too.  We'll spend 3 days exploring the town before conference starts.

I'm rooming again with my travel mate and good friend, Michael Nichols.  We'll sleep in tomorrow morning and then go out on the city and see what we can find.  One interesting new twist to the trip this year.... I flew paperless. I used my iPhone as a boarding pass.  United sent a bar coded boarding pass via email that I was able to scan in at the airport to get through security and to board the plane at the gate.

AOSA in Spokane

This years conference is a huge one for Beatin' Path Publications. No leas than 6 of our composers are presenting sessions. I've had a very busy fall shipping stock and finishing books on deadline and everything is ready to go.

I'll be live blogging this year using my iPhone. I've never tried it before so it should prove interesting. I'll try and send along pictures to go with the posts. Here's one of Michael Nichols leading a session in Canberra, Australia. 

Check in often for updates.

Brent Holl
Beatin' Path Publications, LLC

Canberra Orff Chapter - Brent and Michael Present

On Saturday August 14, 2010, Michael Nichols and I presented a full day workshop for the Orff folks around Canberra, Australia.  Some folks drove in from Sydney, most were from around the Canberra area.  My topics were "Beginnings: How to Start Musical Activities" and "Jump, Jive, and Jazz: Jazz as Elemental Music."  Michael presented: "Spirituals and Folk Songs" and a short presentation about beginning the recorder.

Susan Curbishley organized the meeting which was held a the beautiful new Radford College school in downtown Canberra.  The facility was perfect and well equipped.  Michael and I were able to use our Keynote visuals, which turned out to be a very popular technique.  Our care with the visual learners in the workshop was very well appreciated.  Here's a comment from an attendee,

"I loved the way that he catered for the visual learners too with the written music on the screen – that was like an epiphany for me as other presenters/experts insist we only cater for the aural learners (and I discovered yesterday that I am a visual learner because I really appreciated the music on the screen – it enabled (and empowered) me to enjoy the activities rather than stress because I take ages to learn things aurally)."

The first session was concerned with beginning activities, not so much as to present for beginners, but rather how to begin various aspects of the music curriculum.  Sections were presented on beginning listening, beginning recorder, beginning a general music class with a name game, beginning singing and beginning choir activities.  Michael presented the beginning recorder activities from his new book, "Let's Sing and Play a Dozen."

After lunch I did a short presentation on the idea that jazz and the blues can be a great vehicle for improvisation and that these two great American styles of music are elemental and can be used to teach important musical concepts.  We started with some question/answer style improv using "scat" singing and body percussion and moved from there straight into the blues.  We learned a tune first (Corayluz Blues), then added the bass and the chords.  You can download a copy of the notes for presenting the blues to a general music class here.


Michael finished the day by presenting several of the songs in his book "Spirituals and Folk Songs." Another comment: 

 "And I thoroughly enjoyed Michael’s recorder work also, and would have loved to see more. He had an inclusive style about him as well, as the participant beside me had never done recorder before and was so pleased that she could play a song after that first session. I too picked up new ways of teaching the recorder to young kids.

Thank you so much – the workshop was brilliant!!"

 Everyone enjoyed the songs as well as the day. Here's another comment from a participant: 

"I was so impressed by the teaching style of Brent – the best of anyone I have experienced in ages (maybe ever). I loved the way that he taught at many different levels, and was totally aware of every person in the room. When he saw that people were struggling (like me!!) he went back a few steps so everyone could feel they had achieved success. Very few presenters do that – they continue on and ignore the strugglers, but it just proves how much of an exemplary teacher he is!

Michael and I are looking forward to our next trip to Canberra, perhaps to lead these wonderful folk in a Levels Course in the near future.  Needless to say, we enjoyed our day and would welcome the opportunity to do this again!  

Marimba Camp in Healesville, Victoria. Candlebark Farm

Friday, August 6: My musical journey in Australia continues...

 I was picked up at my hotel in Healesville around 8:30 and driven to Candlebark Farm for the 18th annual family Marimba Camp. Heather McGlaughlin and Jon Madin are the primary reasons I was invited. Jon was a presenter in Charlotte at the '08 AOSA conference and my assignment was to help him in his sessions, handing out materials and carrying marimbas from one session to the next. Heather is a good friend of Jon's and both have been involved with the marimba camp for many years.

Andy Rigby, Jon Madin, Phil Melgaard

Upon arrival, I found Jon, several campers, and the other two presenters for the weekend, Phil Melgaard and Andy Rigby. We spent an hour jamming on the marimbas trading tunes and telling stories. Cooking Light anyone?

Audrey and Phil in Jon's Session

Saturday, August 7:

A good nights sleep, an nutritious breakfast of muesli, coffee, and bread got us all ready for some rousing sessions with the presenters. My first session went very well as the folks learned to play Jewe from my book Wood Songs. They had lots of questions about technique and presentation. Some of the participants were teachers who attended for service credit. The rest of the folks were campers. We worked for an hour and a half.

Morning tea, some good conversation and we were off to session two. I traveled up the hill to a nice spot outside in the sun on a beautiful, sunny, brisk day.  I taught the children campers a tune from Wood Songs as well, The Hey, Hey Jam.  The kids and I worked for about an hour or so and had a nice, spirited arrangement when we finished.

Musical Exercise Bikes

After afternoon tea, Jon's Session was was a lively presentation featuring his new invention, the musical exercise bikes. He also had his Echocellos as well as a raft of Marimbas. When his session was finished several of us gathered to jam and share music and stories.  Adult camper, Audrey and I found out that we had met in Chicago at the 1987 AOSA Conference.  She was a presenter with the musical group, Shenanigans, with Jon and Gary King.  I remembered her performance on the Quena, a South American flute and Gary's unforgettable tune on the didjeridu. She and I jammed on a few tunes and we ended up collaborating on a tune or two for dinner music that evening.  Great fun!

The traditional Saturday evening sharing session featured campers, both children and adults sharing songs and talents.  Several of the pieces that were played during sessions that day were presented while I offered up the Shen Fine song, Along the Valley Road from the CD, The Songs, with Audrey on Flute.  Heather played a beautiful version of Greensleeves with Jon and I on Echo Chello in true renaissance style.

Sunday, August 8:


After another good night's sleep and a good camp breakfast, I was off to Phil's "life changing" session.  He taught the adults to juggle hankys!  Learning to "let go," to keep more things going that you thought possible, to do something seemingly difficult by simply relaxing and letting it happen.... all great life lessons.  Phil then taught us a new tune that dovetailed nicely with Jon's session with the children, who came marching up the hill playing wacky instruments in a special version of Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Fantastic!

I then led a session for the children, first teaching them to do the Hambone, then a version of See Dees from my book, Ensemble.  Little did I know that several of the children were "Pro" body instrumentalists.  It was great fun and I had the pleasure of teaching Phil a new trick!

Jon and I playing EchoChellos.

Travel mate and colleague, Michael Nichols and my lovely wife Karen joined us for lunch and the final session of the camp.  I walked into the meeting hall to find two of the campers composing a fun sounding tune.  We collaborated and pretty soon we had a very cool Rondo with a Refrain played on Marimbas in four parts with a B section on EchoChellos, a C section on Musical Exercise bikes, and a grand finale with all the instruments playing.  For me, it was the highlight of the entire weekend.  Well done Stace and Talitha!

Campers and Teachers

All of the clinicians shared a final piece as the camp came to a close.  I was privileged to lead the final song, so I chose the beautiful canon with movement, Oh How Lovely is the Evening.  What a wonderful event and as far as I know, it will go on year after year.  Perhaps I will have the good fortune to attend again!

Enjoy this Video of the weekend's activities.

Wine tour and riding the pufferbilly

Friday August 6:

We awakened at 4:45 AM after our first good night of sleep for our first tour of the trip. We're off to visit the Yarra Valley wineries and ride the Puffing Billy RR.  Our hotel is in Healesville about a 30 minute drive from Lilydale, which is about an hour from Melbourne by train. The Metro train took us straight to our tour bus station. We joined our tour and were away at 8:15.

The train was very easy to negotiate and we found that passengers were very willing to talk and advise us about stops, where to get on and off, and how to get where we needed to be.  I can't help but remember many trips on New York subways and some futile attempts to ask folks for directions.  We are all impressed by the friendly inquiries and helpfullness of the folks here, even at 6:00 AM!

A Cockatoo

Our first stop was to have some tea at Grants Picnic Ground. It featured a very nice Aviary with many local and exotic birds. We got our first look at a Cockatoo and some other very colorful birds.

The Puffing Billy

The Puffing Billy railway was next and we enjoyed our 25 minute ride through the Sherbrooke Forest.  We rode through the clouds and fog of the Dandenong mountains, enjoying the tree ferns and stately eucalyptus trees. The forest was rich, full and green. The season here is late winter/early spring.

Riding the Puffing Billy
the Traditional Way

Our first winery was the Fergusson vineyard where we ate lunch and had our first tasting. The Sharaz Jeremy was my favorite. Karen enjoyed a glass of Victoria Chardonnay.

Our second winery was the Rochford where did a full wine tasting of three different wines. A little fudge and some wine flavored ice-cream and we were off to Domaine Chandon and some sparking wine. We took a tour of the facility, learning about the types of wine and the wine making process. We learned about fermentation, riddling, crown caps, and corks, finishing our tour with a toast and a taste of Australia's finest sparkling wine.

At Domaine Chandon

A Trip to Melbourne

Business and pleasure in Australia begins today.  The business started in 1997 when I attended the Seattle Orff Conference and saw a session led by Jon Madin and Chris Maubach of Australia.  Both of these fine teachers presented fantastic materials but my attention was riveted on Jon Madin and his incredible homemade marimbas.  I went back to Augusta County in Virginia and began building my own versions of these fantastic instruments.  I've written and blogged many times about making marimbas and marimba music at Stewart Middle School, so I won't add more details here.

Over the last 13 years, I've kept in touch with Jon as well as several other colleagues from down under  who, whenever we would meet up at the AOSA conference would check on my availability for doing some teaching in Australia.  I finally was able to say yes this year.  I am invited to be a guest teacher at the annual weekend Marimba Camp at Candlebark Farm in Healesville, just northeast of Melbourne, and will be doing two more co-sessions with my friend, travel companion and colleague, Michael Nichols.

At the Marimba Camp, I'll have the chance to work with teachers, children, and adults who attend this family camp.  I'm very anxious and excited about making some fantastic music with these folks.  Later on, I'll be leading a session called "Building Melodies" or "Help Me Rondo" for the Melbourne Orff Chapter at Bimbadeen Heights Primary School in Mooroolbark, which is very near the site of the Marimba Camp.  Then it's off to Canberra where Michael and I will be leading sessions for the Orff chapter there.


When the business is done, we'll head off to tour Sydney, Alice Springs, and Cairns before we return on August 30.  Check back often for updates and photos.

Orff Course at VCU ends first week

Betsy Kipperman

The Orff course at Virginia Commonwealth University has just completed its first week.  Betsy Kipperman of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter and Annapolis, Maryland is teaching the Basic Orff portion, Mary Dorsey Evans is teaching movement and Paul Bakeman is teaching recorder.  Both Mary and Paul are members of the new James River Virginia Chapter of the AOSA.

Paul Bakeman

I had the great privilege of attending day one of the course and taught a special topic on "Body Rhythm" for the folks.  I couldn't help but be swept up by the enthusiasm and energy of the group.  The  staff looked energetic and excited too.  This is the first course for both Betsy and Mary and their energy, talent, and expertise is perfect for this course.  I'm looking forward to attending the last two days of class at the end of the week.  I'll present a special topics session on Thursday afternoon and then hang out with the folks on Friday for the final sharing time.

Mary Dorsey Evans

A Photo Gallery is now online.  You can check out pictures of day one. There is a new video of Day 1 at the James River Virginia Orff Chapter website.

The New Pence Middle School Marimba, UPDATED

The Marimba-making process continued this week at Pence Middle School in Dayton, VA.  The students worked four days last week and again on Monday, carving and tuning the bars.  Here a student watches Mr. Holl check a tone bar.

The frame is done, the tube resonators are mounted and the tone bars almost all finished.

As the students finish the bars they add their own unique signature to each bar that they worked on. The signing ceremony ended the students work on the bars.

As the bars are finished, they are mounted on the frame and tried out.  Here Mrs. Hostetter mounts a bar and plays it after checking what students had worked on the bar.

The bars were packed up and returned to Mr. Holl's workshop to be prepared for the final tuning and finishing.  Each bar was sanded, fine tuned for the last time, and then painted with two coats of polyurethane.  Here's a picture of the first coat just finished.



 *UPDATE*  January 24, 2010

The new marimba at Pence Middle School is now finished.  We had a little trouble with one of the bars that had warped about a quarter of an inch during the curing process.  I've never had that happen before, but it was easily solved by getting a new bar made and replacing it.

The bars were delivered, mounted, and the lettering applied.  Mrs. Hostetter is very proud of her new instrument.  I'm looking forward to hearing the kids play it!