The Euclid Symphony Orchestra Plays the Blues

Busses await the arrival of Children at Euclid Children's Day Concert

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The Euclid Symphony Orchestra, started bright and early (literally, as the day was bright and sunny) on Thursday, May 14, 2015, putting on a superb and jumping swing scene for the local children of four different schools: kids from Arbor School were in attendance, at 80 attendees, kids from Bluestone were also there, numbering at 106, Chardon Hills students attended in full force, record has their attendance level at 185, the highest of all, and Shoreview School numbered at 120 students, attending Euclid Symphony Orchestra's annual, big event, just for children, The Children's Concert. Students from New Day Academy, and Mary Mavec, also were there, albeit in a more modest turn-out, to take in the morning musical fun, and to represent their respective student bodies' interest in all things musical and artistic.

Fun was had by all, as the much-awarded Conductor, J.D. Goddard, swung the students into style to the tunes of a stellar compiled, spectacularly arranged piece from, "Cats," by Andrew Lloyd Webber, arranged by Bob Lowden, and the musical arrangement "Satchmo!" arranged by Ted Ricketts, for string orchestra. Songs represented by each of the arrangements for audiences aged from 0-115 included "hard" blues, also known as piano blues, or rag-time, (which basically consists of the piano emphasizing the rhythm through heavier accents) numbers like St. Louis Blues, set to a St.-Louis-Shuffle-Beat, or a drum rhythm,the cheery and good-for-a-morning-musical-medley-as-ever, crowd-pleaser, "Hello Dolly," the ever-inspiring, view-of-the-world-through-rose-colored-glasses, number, and hopeful ditty, "What a Wonderful World," and, of course, who could forget-- the rousing, and energetic, spiritual tune: "When the Saints Come Marching In." Children demonstrated their knowledge of various musical "dynamics" by clapping respectively, loudly (forté), moderately-loud (mezzo-forté), and very loud (fortissimo). Children were also taught the coping mechanism of enacting a "silent yell," which will come very handy when they learn to drive, and did so with aplomb.

Students were asked to identify and taught the names of various instruments (which they knew for the most part), such as cello, trumpet, triangle, and trombone, and were asked to show their respect for youth Jack McLaughlin and young adult Suphie Wesner, who took to the stage to perform a bit of an allegro piece by Haydn, to demonstrate the importance of listening attentively to performers. Students were also put onto teams, to tally up who had the most points based on which team answered the most questions correctly.