We are excited about our upcoming Suzuki String Festival on Sunday, March 9th, 2014!
Festival concerts are incredibly inspirational events where all of our Suzuki violin and cello students perform their shared repertoire together. At the bottom of this e-mail is an explanation of the “play down” festival format.
We hope that this e-mail will answer your questions regarding rehearsals, dress, seating, and logistics for the festival.
Please look it over carefully and let us know if you have any remaining questions.
DATE
Sunday, March 9th, 4-5:30 PM
LOCATION
Ansche Chesed Synagogue, main Sanctuary
251 W. 100th Street (entrance between Broadway and West End Ave.).
This is a kosher facility so there is NO food allowed in the hall.
REHEARSALS
Rehearsals will be held at Silver Music, 45 Tiemann Place ***or another location, TBA
Saturday, March 8th – VIOLIN REHEARSAL, 4:00pm
Friday, March 7th – CELLO REHEARSAL, 4:00pm
DRESS
Concert dress: white top and dark (navy or black) bottoms
ARRIVAL TIME
Students must arrive at the Sanctuary by 3:15 pm for tuning and set-up. Please be on time as there are over 60 students involved in this concert and the logistics are formidable. Unless you are a parent volunteer or your child is four-years or younger, you will drop your child off at 3:15 and leave the hall until 3:45 when the hall will open to the public.
SEATING
There are no tickets or assigned seats for this concert. We expect to have ample room for family members and guests, with open seating in the hall. There is a $15 Suggested Donation per family to help with the expenses of running a large concert.
CELLO STUDENTS
All cellists who play on a small size chair will need to BRING THEIR CELLO CHAIR to the concert. Please email us if you do not have the right sized chair for your child or if you are not sure whether your child needs to bring a chair (students playing ½ sized cellos or larger do not need to bring a chair). All chairs and instrument cases should be clearly labeled. Cellists do NOT need a strap for their endpin, as the performance area is carpeted.
FOOD POLICY
There is NO outside food allowed in the Hirsch Hall as it is a kosher facility. Please be aware of your child’s food needs and make sure to bring a satiated child to the 3:15 set-up and tune. There will not be another opportunity for your child to eat until after the concert at 5:30. We will have water and emergency snacks available. We will NOT have a reception, but will have small gift for each participant.
Our teachers are really looking forward to the next few weeks of preparation and a wonderful concert on the 9th! Please email silvermusic@silvermusic.org with any questions.
What is a Suzuki “play down”?
One of the staples of the Suzuki method is the festival performance with “play down” format. A festival is a group performance with all the students playing selected pieces from the Suzuki repertoire as an ensemble. It’s a wonderful aspect of our shared Suzuki repertoire that we have this amazing opportunity to make music together, even at such a young age.
In order to show case all of our students and to highlight our group music making, we organize the festival as a “play down”; this means that we start the performance with the most advanced students on stage and as we go backwards in the repertoire, each student comes up as we get to their “entry” piece. We will determine each students’ entry piece in the weeks leading up to the concert.