Welcome to the Juneau Student Symphony's (JSS) 2007-8 season!
Our mission is to provide the opportunity for qualified musicians of all ages to play in a full orchestra (made up of strings, percussion, brass and woodwinds) with the aim of beautiful musical performance for the joy of our musicians and our audiences. We are a community orchestra made up of youth and adults.
The aim of the following information is to help us make the music more beautiful. If it makes the musicians' musical life easier, richer or more fun, then these efforts will have been successful.
The Juneau Student Symphony was founded in the 1980's by school strings teacher Fred Mayer. Julia Bastuscheck, with the help of the University of Alaska Southeast and Linda Rosenthal, expanded the program and passed it on to Patrick Murphy who handed the baton to Rick Trostel, the present conductor. The ensemble is a full community orchestra made up of musicians of all ages.
All musicians must audition in order to join the JSS. Those already admitted, and planning to continue to play with the JSS for this coming season, need not audition again.
Auditions are an opportunity for the director to know the players of the orchestra individually. While placement is at the discretion of the director, the audition is also the student's opportunity to try out the music that has been selected for the year.
During the fifteen minute audition the student will:Auditions are by appointment on a continuing basis but they close one week before the first rehearsal of any concert cycle. Please contact Rick Trostel, the director, at 723-3564. There is an audition fee of $20 which serves as the administrative fee if the student joins the orchestra. Scholarships are generously available. Please print out an audition excerpts page from the list above and a registration form, fill it out, and bring them to your audition. To Table of Contents
Most rehearsals will be on Monday evenings at Resurrection Lutheran Church, downtown, at Tenth and Glacier from 6-8 PM. There may be sectional rehearsals called from time to time as needed. The week before the concerts, we will also rehearse Thursday and Friday evenings in the Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School Commons. Pops concert rehearsals will be every week-night from 6-9 for one week prior to our performances. To Table of Contents
Our orchestra is a precious musical instrument that requires everybody's commitment to be on time. Rehearsals must begin promptly. Please arrive early enough to set up your stand and music, assemble and warm up your instrument, and organize your music in rehearsal order. Each rehearsal will include at least one short break about half way through the session. If students want snacks for the break, we will organize a rotating snack schedule at the first rehearsal. To Table of Contents
As part of your commitment to the music and the other musicians, every musician should be at every rehearsal. Our lives are busy, however, and conflicts do occur. If you cannot make a rehearsal, please inform the director (Rick) in writing, either by email or by handwritten note, and in person either on the phone (723-3564) or at a rehearsal. This will help to plan rehearsals around absences. Make sure that the other members of your section have all of the music they may need in your absence. Ideally, you should provide a substitute: ask a friend to sit in for you.
If you know that you will be missing more than two rehearsals in the rehearsal cycle, please contact the director for approval. An unexcused absence or three absences of any kind during a rehearsal cycle for a concert is grounds for expulsion from the orchestra at the discretion of the director. Tuition will not be refunded. The orchestra provides a commitment to each musician that is just as strong as the collective commitment of each individual. To Table of Contents
In your commitment to make the music more beautiful, you will need to spend some time between every rehearsal practicing the technical problems of the music: fingering, bowing, tonguing, phrasing, dynamics, rhythms. I will help by giving specific practicing suggestions at each rehearsal. This is an incredible group endeavor that requires each individual's efforts toward perfection. To Table of Contents
Pops Concerts: August 19, 20
Fall Concerts: November 10, 11
Spring Concerts: March 8, 9
Spring Tour: May 17 and 24 To Table of Contents
Black shoes. Black pants or skirt. Solid, brightly colored shirt or blouse - no graphics. Please make an effort to look as good as you sound. To Table of Contents
Administrative Fee: $20 due once a year at the audition or at the first rehearsal.
Concert Fee: $60 due at the first rehearsal of each rehearsal cycle (August 13, September 17, January 14.
Tour Fee: Musicians who have not been part of the JSS during the 2007-8 season but who will be joining the orchestra for the tour will be expected to pay $30 at the first tour rehearsal.There is a fee of $20 to audition which is due at the time of the audition. This fee serves as the administrative fee if the student enrolls in one of the Student Symphonies.
Please print out a registration form and fill it out with your tuition and fees payment. Checks should be made out to the "Juneau Student Symphony".
Concert and Tour Fees will be refunded in full up to the first rehearsal of the concert cycle. Administrative and Audition Fees are not refundable. No refunds will be given after the first rehearsal. Late payments will be assessed a 20% late fee. To Table of Contents
Money should not be an obstacle to anyone's participation. Fees are based on what is deemed to be reasonable in terms of the value received. If a student can't afford tuition, then we ask that s/he pay what s/he can, though we always ask that s/he pay something. If paying in installments makes tuition easier to pay, we will be happy to set up a payment plan.
Please contact conductor Rick Trostel by email or phone (723-3564) if you would like to arrange a scholarship or payment plan. Scholarships and/or payment plans should be worked out by the due date. Any student who has not paid tuition nor worked out a scholarship or payment plan by the due date will be expected to pay full tuition plus 20% for late fees. To Table of Contents
In order to afford our generous scholarship policy, we raise money from many sources including a direct request from our musicians and their families. If you are able, please consider a donation to help support our generous scholarship policy. Any amount will be greatly appreciated. You may make your donation when you register and is included in the list of payments on the registration form. To Table of Contents
We want members of the Juneau Student Symphonies to listen to great music performed by fine orchestras. Recordings provide a great opportunity to do that, however there is nothing to compare with a live performance. Academic year members of the JSS will receive a voucher for a ticket to each of the Juneau Symphony full orchestra (not Showcase) Sunday matinee concerts during the regular season.
To redeem your voucher, simply arrive at the Sunday concert before all of the seats have been sold. Arriving at 2:30 for a 3:00 concert is usually plenty early. The volunteers at the "will call" table will be able to help you. If you want an opportunity to see the Saturday night concert for "free", you can often do that by volunteering to help before and after the concert. Please arrange this with the Symphony administrator, Liz Agnew, a week or so in advance (586-4676 or email). To Table of Contents
Orchestra music should be treated with great respect. It is so much more than the paper that it is printed on. It is expensive, it takes a lot of time to organize into folders, each part is necessary for the whole piece to be performed and, most importantly, the music is a work of art.
Please mark your parts as much as needed but use only erasable pencil. Have a pencil and YOUR OWN music at every rehearsal and the concert. Don't rely on anybody else to bring your music for you. After our concert, please return your folder immediately to me so that it can be collated and reshelved. Please understand how important it is to keep our valuable music organized and how time consuming it is to file the music from a single late folder.
JSS music is chosen from student repertoire and easier professional works including concertos with soloists selected from the Juneau Symphony's Youth Concerto Competition. We will be playing orchestral arrangements of American Folk Songs for the Pops concert. The Fall Concert is a mix of orchestral pieces with choir such as Handel's Hallelujah Chorus and Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring as well as pieces for orchestra alone such as Verdi's Overture to Nabucco. The Winter Concert will include Mars from Host's Planets and In the Hall of the Mountain King from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. These two pieces will be accompanied by video produced by students at the Juneau Fine Arts Camp. The Spring Tour repertoire will consist of the musicians' pick of their favorite pieces of the year. To Table of Contents
In order to realize the goals of this season, we will require some support from ALL families in our orchestral community beyond rehearsals, practice and performances. Here are some ways families may be able to help:
Thank you to the many who have already contributed and who will contribute to the Juneau Student Symphony beyond your music. To Table of Contents
Conductor, Rick Trostel: 723-3564 or email.
Juneau Symphony executive director, Liz Agnew: 586-4676 or email.
updated 6/24/07