Australian Youth Orchestra
AYO National Music Camp 2012: Blog 6
AYO Blog
AYO National Music Camp 2012: Blog 6
By Lydia Dobbin
Day 9
As the orchestras eased themselves back into rehearsal after yesterday’s ‘free day’, a fog of panic descended on Lab 2.29 – the home of the 2012 WAMmers (Words About Music participants).
It was deadline day and words of all sorts were flying around the room as the team tweaked and polished, preparing their little gems for publication. Tomorrow the camp magazine, Musica Fever goes to the designer’s. It will feature two or more articles by each of the WAMmers as well as lots of camp photos and one spectacularly cryptic camp crossword: I recommend you start to prepare by learning the spelling of all extinct 19th century brass instruments.
After lunch the WAM team stopped in an Arts Administration session – a talk from Matthew VanBesien. Currently the managing director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Matthew has just been appointed the next Executive Director of the New York Philharmonic. Chatting to the students about his own first steps in the industry, he offered his advice for getting to the top: make opportunities and stay energised.
During the afternoon’s chamber music rehearsals, the trio of WAMmers preparing Saturday’s interval feature went into the field to collect a few sound bites. At the first stop, the wind quintet scheduled to be rehearsing Ligeti’s Bagatelles instead offered a rousing rendition of 90s pop sensation The Venga Bus is Coming before dissolving into fits of laughter.
Back at the lab the WAMmers made an emergency dash to the local IGA. One bag of remainder stock chocolate M&M’s later and they were ready to continue plowing towards their deadlines.