Report from the Road:

School Children Clamour for Opportunity to Conduct the Orchestra

The President's Page Blog is pleased Kendra Hill, a 3rd-year Biology major from Lacombe, has agreed to submit regular updates as CUC's orchestra tours and performs through BC, Washington, Oregon and California.   

Because we gave only two concerts today, we finally got some time to relax and have some fun together. We started the day driving roughly three hours from Ukiah to Auburn, where we performed a school concert at Pine Hills Adventist Academy. The kids there were so enthusiastic! When Miss Penner gave the kids an opportunity to conduct the orchestra in a scale, numerous hands instantly shot up. We had just as much fun playing a scale as they had conducting it. It was a shame that there wasn’t more time to play for them.

After the concert, we got to spend a couple hours at the school for much needed down time. Some people went into town, some slept, some played games on the field, and some just enjoyed the sunshine. I think most everybody got a little burnt, but nobody really minds.

Once it was time to move on, we drove to Grass Valley, where we performed an early evening concert. It was a particularly special evening for our bassoonist from Venezuela, Pablo, because he was able to play for the first time on his very own bassoon! Purchasing an instrument for him has been a complicated work in progress since the fall, and tonight he finally received it. The concert was a short one because we still had to drive back to Sacramento to meet our billets for the night. We will be staying at the same place for a couple of nights, which we are all quite thankful for.