Flat Food Dragon in concert at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
/Hi Otters!
Have any of you performed for an audience before? Maybe you’ve been on stage at Pacific’s Taylor Meade Center, you’ve played piano for your family and friends, you’ve spoken in front of your church or synagogue, or you’ve been part of a dance or ballet recital?
Well, I just got to go to my first performance! On December 7, I traveled 27 miles down the road to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Concert Hall in Downtown Portland to perform on stage for a holiday music concert called Comfort and Joy.
Comfort and Joy featured two groups performing together. The Oregon Symphony is the oldest symphony in the western United States and was founded 125 years ago. In the symphony there are over 75 musicians who play instruments like the violin, trumpet, cello, flute, trombone, oboe, drums, harp, and more. They were joined by members of the Oregon Chorale which includes 60 singers (and me, Flat Food Dragon) from Forest Grove, Hillsboro, and Beaverton.
On the morning of December 7, we started with a rehearsal to practice all our music before the audience arrived. The orchestra members were having a competition for who had the best holiday outfits and the best section won a pizza party.
Every member of the chorale and the orchestra has been practicing for months to get ready for this concert. Just like you’ve been studying geography, we have been studying our sheet music. In the picture below you’ll see a bunch of musical notes and symbols — these tell us what words to say, what notes to sing, how fast we’ll go, and how loud or quiet we should be. They also tell us when the singers should be quiet so the orchestra can play alone. This song is called “Spirit of the Season” from the movie the Polar Express. I wrote a note in my music to remind myself to smile when I’m on stage!
After four hours of practicing it was time for a break before the concert. I walked around Downtown Portland for awhile and then had fish and chips for dinner at a restaurant called Southpark Seafood. I LOVE french fries so so so so much — good thing I ate this one before Claire’s dad tried to take a bite.
With a full belly I headed back over to The Schnitz (as most Portlanders call it). If you’ve been to downtown Portland you might have seen this building before — it’s right in the middle of downtown and it has a giant light-up Portland sign on the building. It’s one of our biggest concert halls in the city.
Singers don’t go in the same entrance as the audience. There is a special door just for performers on the side of the building where we enter instead. Once I went inside, I climbed up some concrete stairs and followed the signs to the stage. I snuck in one last time to take a look out at the empty theater before they let in all the guests.
Did you know that behind the stage there is a hidden room for all the performers to get ready? As the audience was filing into their seats, I did one final practice of all the songs before we went on stage. Wish us luck! (Or break a leg, as we like to say.)
And then it was time for the concert. Over 2,000 people came to hear our music, which included traditional Christmas songs, holiday songs from Africa, gospel music, and of course that number from the Polar Express. See if you can spot me at the back of the choir loft…I hope I remembered to smile!
The concert was so much fun and the audience loved it — we got a standing ovation at the end! Be sure to ask Ms. Aja to play you an excerpt or two so you can hear what it was like. I hope you get to enjoy some great music this holiday season, whether you’re performing it or listening to it. Have a great winter break next week!
- Flat Food Dragon
