Last Day of Orchestra Camp!

Hi everyone!
            I'm oh so very sad today. Why? Well, because it's the last day of Orchestra Camp! Yes, I go to orchestra camp. This whole past week, I have been spending time with other band nerds, playing concertos and sonatas and preparing for this week's concert today! I'm so excited, because we're playing several pieces from Harry Potter, Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, Mahler, and some Schubert! I'm playing several different instruments during this concert. In Harry Potter, I play the B Flat Clarinet, while in Mahler, I play the Timpani. That's a big drum that makes loud noises just in case you didn't know.
            For Harry Potter, I was put into what is called a Chamber Orchestra Group. That's a group of instruments that practice and perform the piece together without a conductor. The leading violinist (called the Concert Mistress or Concert Master, Mistress in this case) leads us in starting and stopping the piece. She also keeps us all on the tempo. I thought that this piece was really fun, because it has a large variety of medley from all of the Harry Potter movies. The ending is the best part, cause it end's slow and happy.
            For Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, I play the A Clarinet. It's like a B Flat Clarinet, except it's deeper and about two inches longer. In the piece, I solo over four professionals playing two violins, a viola, and a cello. It's kinda scary, because they all know exactly what they're doing, and I'm still learning. I don't know where my Orchestra Director came up with the audacity to ask me of all people to play the piece! It's incredibly long, incredibly slow, and incredibly hard! But, I'm pretty sure I can pull it off just great.
            Last but not least, Mahler. In Mahler, which is a minor version of "Frère Jacques", I play the timpani. It was kind of scary when the Orchestra Director asked me to play that, because I had never played a percussion instrument in my life (unless you count nine years of piano as some kind of percussion. I don't.) Our conductor, a Ukrainian named Lev, kept telling me that I was playing the timpani too slow. He told me quarter notes. I did standard quarter notes. But apparently, his version of quarter notes were standard whole notes. After a while, I figured it out.
           Well, I believe my ride to the concert's here. I'm going now to play my heart out, even though I may not have ANY idea what I am doing up on that stage! Wish me luck!


          -Mr. T. Out-