Chamber Strings Retirement Party

Just finished playing at a retirement party for a wonderful teacher who has been working at the school for 50+ years. Wonderful man who teaches biology. I was approached about this 3 weeks ago and decided chamber strings would be most appropriate (compared to our usual quartet). It included 3 1sts, 3 2nds, 2 violas, 2 cellos, 1 Dbl bass. This is the first time our music program is starting to get recognized in a more important light (not for having a few bad apples). We have played at some venues before but most teachers and staff have never really had the chance to hear us. I pulled some beautiful songs from our library and we played in the background as some sort of lounge music. Some of the more popular ones:

Jupiter (Chorale) -Gustav Holst
There You'll Be -Faith Hill
Only Time- Enya
Ashokan Farewell- PBS Special
And a personal request by a teacher: The Sound of Music

Our library only has 70 songs for orchestra (but keeps growing). Jupiter was fun to conduct as it fit my conducting style well. We got lots of compliments, being referred to as classy and wonderful sounding (finally getting recognized by the principal). This was a unique experience and I hope somebody continues to perform at these events next year, though doubtful. I also hope that given the budget cuts, teachers will fight to keep the program around, though doubtful.

I did get a few good things out of it:

Cheese and Crackers
REALLY GOOD CAKE
and Sparkling Cider (cause they won't allow wine around teachers. Lol)