Hi all!  I hope that everyone is now done with school activities, and I hope that we can all rest & recharge while staying safe & healthy!  Today, Dr Waters and I met and agreed on music LAYO music.

In no particular order, you can expect to see: Bach Brandenburg Simphonia, Vistas Espanolas, Themes from 1812 Overture, Warrior Legacy, Royal Fireworks, The Great Locomotive Chase, Eric Satie's Gymnopedes, Ear-Igami, Procession of the Nobles by Rimsky-Korsakov, L'Estro Armonico by Vivaldi (have fun, Madison!), and the Magic of Harry Potter.   

I'll be working on scanning items & uploading them.  My goal is to be done by Christmas Eve.  

​Our next rehearsal is Sunday, January 9.  Have your music ready & I'll see you then!  Please remember that if you have any questions, feel free to email or text me.  And if you have any ideas on perspective members, we'd love for them to join us, but they still have to send in an audition.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

What an outstanding concert for everyone involved!  That concert was a great way to get back in to live music performances!  I, for sure, wasn't the only one who thought so.  Check out us in the Lima News:
https://www.limaohio.com/news/488378/excellent-return-of-youth-orchestra

I'm going to try to be putting up some photos from the concert & rehearsal over the next few days.   I'm also planning on taking down the old music, and hopefully soon putting up the new!  To be honest, at this time, I can't be too sure of what we are going to be playing.  If there are any doubts or questions, I'll make sure that I put it in the news section.  I think that at this time, it might be a good idea if we "over-programmed" the concerts, and then eliminated music if/as we need to.  I hope that makes sense to everyone.  If you see a TON of music, please understand that some may be "backups".  I suppose we have to see how that shakes out in rehearsal, right?

So, I'll be doing my best to get things all set up for the 2022 calendar/concert year.  PLEASE check back every once in a while for new music.  And, absolutely have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  See you (I think the date is) January 9!  

This morning, it was so beautiful to see Christmas lights shining through the fog.  Even though it's not snow, it put me in the mood for a Christmas concert, which is tomorrow!

On a personal note, I'm proud of all of the work that we've put in for this concert already, and I'm sure it's going to be a giant success.  Reminder that we're meeting to rehearse today from 1-3.  I'll be getting there plenty early to set up the stage.  We had to meet in the afternoon today because of building usage/conflicts at Lima Senior High School, which is fine.  

Our Cadet Orchestra has had some great positive responses.  But I feel like we definitely need some more sign-ups.  If you are even considering it, please sign up for it.  If you know of a younger player with maybe just a year of playing experience, please send them the way of the Cadet Orchestra.  

Oh, and here's us in the news: https://www.limaohio.com/news/487677/lima-area-youth-orchestra-concert-scheduled

For our concert tomorrow, tickets will be available at the door: $10/adults, $5/students and seniors.  The concert will begin at 5:00 PM on the stage of Lima Senior High School.  For our wonderful members, Dr Waters put it best in her email.  I can't remember the exact words, but she described it beautifully: something about formal with some festive accents.  Personally, I'll be wearing a black suit with a reindeer tie, and festive Christmas tree socks (not that you'll really be able to see them...).

Also, I'm going to begin putting together the next concert.  We've got some Beethoven, which will be fun.  If you want to prep, go listen to Beethoven Symphony 5 (that's arguably the most famous one), and I would recommend the last movement.  Hopefully we'll be looking at the Bacchanale from Samson & Delilah by Saint-Saens, I would definitely recommend putting that on your playlist.  We're also hopefully going to be looking at the Waltz from Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky - again another that I would recommend listening to.  That might sound like a "heavy" concert, but I assure you it'll be great.  It's music that you'll be almost 100% guaranteed to fall in love with!  I'm going to try to have new music posted around the 17th of December.

Speaking of next concert, our members will need a LAYO shirt!  It's a beautiful black polo-style shirt.  We put our *new* LAYO logo embroidered on the left chest, and members get their choice of embroidery on the right sleeve (we recommend either a first or last name, or an instrument).  Before you write a check, let me check on the price.  It was $17.  Honestly, it's a great shirt that holds up well, and I feel like it's a good price.  They will be available in a "regular" cut (which works well for just about everyone), a "youth" cut (which is great if you're younger), and a "ladies" cut (it's slimmer on the sides and has shorter sleeves).  That will be something that we discuss in January.

And speaking of January, if there's an issue where we need to cancel a rehearsal due to weather, it'll be right here in the "News" section, I'll try to put it on our "front page" and I'll try to shoot out an email.  It's been a few years since that's happened, so, fingers crossed!

Finally, the Youth Orchestra is looking for new sponsors.  If you know of anyone, or would like to donate to our cause, that would be much appreciated.  We'll take any amount, but $50 gets you listed in the program and a custom message.  $300 gets a 1/4 page in the program.   For $750 you get 1/2 page and you get to name an honorary chair in the program.  And, for $1000+ you get a full page in the program, custom message, and 4 free tickets.  If you or someone you know is interested in donating, please make your check payable to "Lima Community Foundation" and put "Lima Area Youth Orchestra" in the memo line.  You can get a donation to me to turn in, or you could mail it to: Nanci Carroll - LAYO Treasurer, C/O Lima Noon Optimists, PO Box 428, Lima, Ohio 45802-0428.

Our first rehearsal was yesterday, and I think it went rather quite well!  

I like how we learned some advanced elements about music.  We learned some things about each other.  We got some new music, courtesy of Dr Waters.  We did quite a bit!

We are in need of a couple of musicians.  If you know of a couple of horn players, please have them contact me.  I'd love to have a full section of 4!  I'd also love to get just 1 more trumpet player: the ones we have a great, but I'd just like to fill out the section with 3 or 4.  If you know of someone who would fit the bill, please have them contact me, and they can use the "Contact Us" form from the web page.

Attendance yesterday wasn't bad.  I think we have some sick people, and that's OK - please stay home and get better!

I changed a couple of things on the website here: I updated our calendar (I swear I thought thing updated itself!), I updated our members, and I removed the old Carol of the Bells from the music page.  It was a good tune, but that arrangement is just wicked hard.

I think we're in good shape.  We are moving towards being "set" for our concert on December 5... I think that's only 3 more rehearsals!  Please try to make all of them.  Next rehearsal is November 7.  If you have any questions or issues, please feel free to send me an email and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.  

​Thank you again, LAYO family!

​Dear Parents & Students,

It is with deepest sympathy and regret that inform you that the Lima Area Youth Orchestra will not be performing with Black Violin on Thursday, October 21, 2021.  We were placed in a situation where we (Dr Waters and I) had no control over our outcome.  In short, their management team will not allow us to perform with the group in a performance situation.  We were in negotiations all week, but they repeatedly turned us down, and claimed that it was due to COVID precautions. To us, when we work for an end product, we always want to showcase what we have worked on, and put our best foot forward.  We felt that we were not in a situation that would allow this to happen.

However, all of our players still have a free ticket to the show.  Please, come if you want to and are able.  There would be no need to show up earlier than the show itself, and you can wear the clothes that you deem appropriate.  If you don't want to go to the show, please feel no pressure to do so.

If you decide to go to the show, we are under the assumption that we have a block of tickets held for "LAYO", so feel free to swing by the box office, and tell them you want a ticket for LAYO for the concert.  Again, it begins at 7:30.  I would tell my students that it's good practice to show up around 15-30 minutes before the concert to get yourself situated.  If you want to let me know that you're going, please do.  If you had parents/family who bought a ticket, and you now want a refund, please call the box office and let them know.

We feel like every situation, whether positive or negative, can be an excellent learning situation for all of us.  In this case, we now have a little more experience working with an off-site management crew.  We also feel like it was a good practice, moving forward, to begin the season with some strings-only rehearsals.  

And speaking of rehearsals, if we don't see you at the Black Violin concert, we'll see you at this Sunday's rehearsal!  We hope that you & your family have a pleasant evening (please go enjoy the beautiful fall weather!) and a fabulous week!