Hello everyone, as the year winds down we just wanted to let you know about a couple of things. The Symphony Orchestra just went to State MPA this past Tuesday in Branden, Florida where they recieved an overall superior rating! The Symphony Orchestra also visited the Avalon Middle School Orchestras on Friday for the annual Recruitment Day where they performed fun pieces and talked to the students about what being a part of the TCO program is like.

We have our Spring Concert coming up on May 13th, the last opportunity of the year to see all of our students perform. We welcome you to come and enjoy the concert. In preparation for next year; auditions will begin Monday, April 28 and last until Wednesday, April 30th. Students must have all their scales prepared as well as the short excerpt. Also, please save the date, May 29th, for the annual Timber Creek Orchestra Banquet. Family and friends are invited to attend. There will be more information in regards to the banquet shortly. There are a lot of things going on right now, with exams and such, but lets end the year playing some amazing music and celebrate the end to a wonderful year!

We have finally entered our last nine weeks of the school year! We are super excited in preparing for the Symphony Orchestra’s performance at State MPA along with the Full Symphony on the week of April 14th, in Tampa. We are also continueing the March Madness fundraiser this Sunday, April 6th, at the Winn Dixie from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. We are in need of both student and parent volunteers for this event. Coming up towards the end of the school year is our Spring Concert where we will again be performing with a full symphony; rehearsals for this orchestra will begin the week of April 21st. To celebrate our year round performances and hard work we are beginning to organize our end of the year banquet but we are having difficulty in finding an accurate sized venue for our program; if any one has any suggestions please contact us as soon as possible. The orchestra is thinking ahead to next year as well. Our Avalon Middle School recruitment day will be on April 18th, where the Symphony students and officers will travel to the middle school to rehearse and help the students. Auditions for next year are also just around the corner. Students will need to know all 12 major scales and their arpeggios. Dates and times for the auditions will soon be scheduled. Students should begin preparing for their auditions because they will be approaching sooner rather than later. Our schedule these nine weeks are busier than ever but we could not be more excited about the direction this program is going! Let’s finish this year off right!

The MPA time crunch has begun! The next couple of weeks will be extremely busy with our rehearsals, Pre-MPA Concert on March 4th, and our MPA Performance on Friday, March 14th. On February 26th, the Full Symphony Orchestra has the pleasure of rehearsing with Mr. Krienes, who will help the orchestra prepare even more for MPA. The regular rehearsal schedule will continue except for one minor change for the Symphony Orchestra which will be rehearsing Monday, March 3rd instead of that Wednesday, March 5th. A week later is our MPA Performance! Serenade will be performing at 12:30, Concert will perform at 3:30, and then we will end the night with the Symphony Orchestra performance at 7. Another small note; please remember to turn in practice logs by Sunday night every week. We cannot wait to finally perform our pieces that we have been so dedicated to for the past couple of months!

This will be one exciting week for the Timber Creek Orchestras! Not only do we have our regularly scheduled rehearsals — Tuesdays for Concert Orchestra and Wednesdays for Serenade and Symphony Orchestras — but we also have a highly acclaimed guest clinician coming in on Thursday and Friday to help the students with their MPA pieces. Ed Kawakami will be here during classes as well as after school. On Thursday in the afternoon he will rehearse with Concert and Symphony Orchestras, and Friday will be for the Serenade and Symphony Orchestras. Friday will also be followed by a spirit night at Gators Dockside at the Lake Underhill and Alafaya intersection. Come have a lovely dinner that will help fund the Orchestra Program’s needs. MPA season is finally here and we are preparing some wonderful pieces for March. Thank you for your ongoing support!

And the holiday season begins! The TCO program wishes you and your family a safe and very merry winter vacation. See you all back here in the New Year!