Welcome to the new season!

Welcome to NJSYO 2014- 2015 season, everyone!
It was really nice to have met all the new students and some of their parents, and of course, to see all the familiar faces again.

In a way, I like being away for the summer vacation (besides the obvious reason) and returning back from it, because it really teaches you how much you appreciate what you have during most of the year. I mean I think we all appreciate it, but I don't think we think about it (the appreciation) that much when we are in the midst of it.

Anyway, for those of you that are new this year, the primary objective of this blog is to act as an intermediary between me, students, and most importantly, the parents. And to strengthen this community through conversation. By reading the blog, I am hoping that it instigates some conversations about the orchestra between parents and the students "outside" of the rehearsals, which help to strengthen the level of commitment. Because most parents do not get to see the rehearsal process, I think it is nice for you (parents) to know what goes on in that gallery for those one hour and forty-five minutes, and maybe talk about it with the kids. Comments directly on this blog would also be much appreciated, that way, I can also be involved in this conversation.

I usually treat my very first rehearsal as just an intro for the kids, and an opportunity for me to gauge and assess how much can be done this year. And my verdict for this year is.... A LOT! And I'm quite excited about it.

Before we delved into the music, we spent some time talking about certain expectations, both what I expect from you, and what the students should expect from me, the orchestra and NJSYO.

Writing everything down here will make this entry a bit too long, so I will start a new entry for what I call "The CYO Guide", which will talk about rules, what to expect, what I expect, what to bring, what to and what not to do, how certain things work, etc, etc, etc....

Once that is up, please go over it carefully. If that is not up by today, it should be up within the next couple of days.

This blog will mostly be for CYO rehearsals, but since I am in charge of chamber as well, I might be writing entries for that group just as often. You can tell which group I am writing about by the tag(s) I put on each entry (but of course, you are more than welcome to read and comment in any entry, whether it is for your group or not).

In this entry, I just wanted to say welcome (back), hello, and that I think, from what I saw yesterday, this will be an excellent year!