❤️Feb. Issue | 2019
The name of our newsletter is Prima Sedia — Italian for First Chair
LYS Spring Concert 🎶
Date: Sunday, March 3 2:00 pm
  Location:  Longmont High School

Required Warm-up & Rehearsal Report Time:
  • LYSO @ 10:30am - 11:40am
  • LYWE @ 11:45am - 12:35pm
  • LYSE @ 12:40pm - 1:30pm

Parent volunteers begin to arrive at 12:45 pm; Doors open at 1:30 pm. Parent volunteers help with clean-up, usually finished by 4:30 pm. 
Please  sign-up  to volunteer.
Spring Break: No Rehearsals Mark Your Calendars

There will be no LYS rehearsals  from March 16-March 30 . Have a great spring break! Rehearsals will resume on April 6.
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A NNOUNCEMENTS
Fall Concert Volunteer Opportunities

Come help us make the concert a success! Please  sign-up  for several opportunities before/ after the concert, and to bring refreshments.

Season Tickets are accepted for this concert. Please remember to bring your season ticket.
Individual tickets  may be  purchased at the door for:

  • $12.00 - Adults
  • $7.00 - Seniors 65+
  • $7.00 - Students age 13-18
  • FREE - Kids 12 and under

 
Student of the Month: Keegan Theiss, Bassoon (LYWE/LYSO)

Keegan Theiss will be performing Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 with the Flatirons Community Orchestra on March 10, at 4:00 pm. The concert will take place at Westview Presbyterian Church (1500 Hover St, Longmont). We hope you will be there to support him!
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We are in the process of standing up a Student Leadership Team. Ultimately LYS exists for benefit of the students, and we want to make sure you have a voice in current activities and the future direction of the organization. Kristen Beeman and Keynes Chen will be providing board oversight and structure, but the committee will be driven primarily by the students. Ideally we want to have a cross-section from all LYS ensembles, including new students as well as those who have been with us for a while, so all are encouraged to participate.  Please contact Kristen if you are interested in being part of this committee.
Notes 🎵 from Mrs. Schmitt,
LYSE Music Director
Dear LYS Families,  

Practice Smart to Fit Your Busy Life

Life gets busy, especially for musicians who are also juggling work, school, family, friends, and the list goes on! If you don't have the time to practice 40 hours a day ( Twoset Violin ), you can use these tips to get a lot done in a much shorter period of time!

1. Target the most difficult sections and focus only on those.

So often, we play through entire pieces, or spend more time playing parts that we can already play well. This is enjoyable, but we accomplish more in less time when we find the most difficult sections and focus on those.

2. Make notes in your music.

Write in fingerings. Mark half steps. Color-code your dynamics. In rehearsal, if you make a mistake, such as forgetting an Eb in a key signature, write in a flat as a reminder. This will save you time, because you won't keep making the same mistakes.

3. Use a metronome! Seriously.

Sometimes, we need to "go slow to go fast." If you keep trying and failing to play a fast portion of music in rehearsal, practicing with a metronome will help you build speed. Find the tempo at which you can play well, and then increase it by a few clicks at a time, until you reach the performance tempo. It is ok to take multiple practice sessions to achieve performance tempo.

You will probably never be able to practice 40 hours a day, but with these tips, you can be an incredible musician and still have a life! Stay tuned (get it)? for the next installment of Prima Sedia...and go practice!!!


Warmest regards,
Mrs. Schmitt
Notes from the LYS Board of Directors
Greetings LYS Families,

Exciting things are happening in the Longmont performing arts community ! If you happen to be following the local news, you may have heard about recent efforts to build a new performing arts center in Longmont. The group behind this push is the Longmont Performing Arts Initiative (LPAI) , of which the Longmont Youth Symphony is a founding member. LPAI consists of six member organizations within the performing arts community which have a history of serving Longmont through the performing arts going back decades, some as far back as the 1930s. And as Longmont and the surrounding areas have grown since then, so has its arts community. This growth has put increasing strain and pressure on existing performance spaces, particularly since these spaces are either rented or leased through growing schools and churches. LYS has certainly not escaped this trend. 
Over the past year, LPAI has been working collaboratively with various civic groups, community planners, and key philanthropists to promote this vision. LPAI is proud to announce that it has rece1ntly entered into an MOU with the City of Longmont to begin the essential step of a feasibility study for a state of the art and centrally located performing arts center. LPAI anticipates a favorable outcome , and it expects to get a recommendation on what to build rather than whether to build. Previous studies, the last being 10 years ago, returned a favorable result when Longmont was much smaller. The needs of the arts community and Longmont itself have grown since then, and Longmont is projected to add 24,000 residents between now and 2035, according to the City's “Envision Longmont” document. What is to be built must then consider the needs of a city of almost 120,000. The city has recognized that in order to foster a vibrant arts community for its growing population, steps must be taken to address the limited venues situation sooner rather than later.

As parents and supporters of LYS, you are a part of this exciting effort! To have a dedicated space for LYS, along with room for its performers and directors to grow, is part of our long term strategic vision. If LPAI’s efforts succeed in building a state of the art performing arts center, LYS stands to directly benefit. LYS also indirectly benefits by being a part of space that will encourage further collaboration and (hopefully!) opportunities for our student performers to be a part of a vibrant and regionally-recognized performing arts community beyond their time in LYS. 

I invite you to follow LPAI’s work through Facebook and its website to keep up to date on its efforts. As a long time LYS parent and board member, I would like to personally thank you for your commitment to LYS and the performing arts in Longmont. You and your student’s commitment does not go unrecognized within the larger performing arts community and is often cited as the ultimate reason for what LPAI is doing: creating a future for performing arts . Thank you!

Take care,
Dr. Sara Amodio
LYS Board Member and LPAI Secretary
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Northern Colorado’s Premier Youth Orchestra
Longmont Youth Symphony is a non-profit organization established in 1996.The Longmont Youth Symphony is an orchestra committed to serving the young musicians of the St. Vrain Valley and surrounding areas. The Youth Symphony provides a resource for young musicians to further develop and excel in their musical abilities through the guidance of professional leadership and direction. By doing so, we enable our youth to entertain, educate, and expand appreciation of music within the community.