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Molly was selected to attend the Prep Summer String Institute put on by the National Philharmonic this year. This is a week long summer camp put on by folks from the National Philharmonic (who play at the Strathmore in Bethesda where we saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban earlier this year). They only take really advanced students, so Molly was excited to be selected.

This camp was serious. They mailed Molly music a month in advance so she could practice it ahead of time. Then camp itself was an intense week of music. She rehearsed pieces with the full orchestra, had sessions on technique, worked on movement exercises (e.g. bounce a tennis ball to the beat of a song), and broke into chamber ensembles to work on more pieces. She even got to have private 1-on-1 lessons with the principal violist of the National Philharmonic. Combined with having to wake up early to fight traffic driving down toward Washington, the days were exhausting but so much fun.

They put on a concert at the end of the week. First each of the chamber ensemble's performed.

Here’s Molly playing with her chamber ensemble.

After all the ensembles played, the full orchestra came together.

Molly was one of only 2 violas in the orchestra (the other was the daughter of the institute director). They were really glad to have Molly, as the previous year they had no violas. I guess most kids that start early enough to be at this level choose violin or cello.

And finally, here’s the full orchestra playing together. It’s amazing that they can sound so good after just a week long camp.

Molly had no friends at the camp, but she did have one friendly face for the week. Margaret (Molly’s regular private instructor, National Philharmonic player, and the children’s minister at our church) was on staff as well. Molly didn’t work with her during the week, but Molly wouldn’t have been at this camp if it wasn’t for Margaret. Thanks Margaret!

Molly may not have started with friends, but she certainly made several. In fact, after the concert we couldn’t understand what was taking her so long to come out. Turns out she was busy collecting email addresses from girls she had made friends with so she could keep in touch.

Thanks to Aunt EA and Uncle Scott for their hospitality as well. Jen, Molly, and Leah spent one night with them as they live fairly close to the camp. That saved one commute each way, and meant Molly got to sleep a little later one day.

Molly hopes to do this again next year, and we may also try to catch a National Philharmonic show to see some of her teachers in action. It was a really great experience. Thanks to the National Philharmonic for offering this great program!

While Leah was at baking camp, Molly attended Encore Music Camp here in Howard County. It’s a full-day music camp for middle schoolers (yes, Molly is entering middle school). They had a wide variety of levels and had a lot of fun together.

Molly was excited to have friends at the camp. She, Simon, and Jake have been friends since they were infants.

The string orchestra did great and had a lot of fun in their end-of-the-week performance. The last song (Rosin Eating Zombies, starting at 12:46 ) was our favorite.

Molly was also part of the choir.

At the end of the concert, the entire camp came together to play.

Molly took a class on conducting as one of her electives. Then she got to conduct this ensemble at the end of the week.

Molly also took guitar as an elective. She said it was hard.

It was late after the end-of-the-week concert, but we still stopped at The Snowball Stand for the first time for a treat.

Molly and Leah sang with their choir at church again in May.

Molly performed as part of the Advanced Orchestra at elementary school for her final time. The concert was lovely, and now she's off to play in the middle school orchestra in the Fall (after a couple of orchestra camps this summer).

Molly was a bit more humble this time when they recognized the students who’d been selected for GT orchestra groups.

The day after Molly's orchestra concert was her chorus concert. She will not be doing chorus in middle school, so this is her last chorus concert at least for a while (though she'll still be singing at church).

Molly had her second (and final) concert with the county-wide Elementary School GT Sinfonia on Saturday. They were outstanding. We're so glad she was picked to participate in this elite group.

Apologies for the video in the first song. I thought I'd have an angle to get a close-up on her, but other kids shifted as they were about to play.

Yeah Molly! We’re so proud of you.

Molly played her viola for the school talent show again. She decided to embrace her love of Star Wars this time around, which the crowd loved. Thanks to Margaret (her private instructor and also our Children's Minister at church) for accompanying her and having fun with it.

The girls’ choir sang again in mid-December.

Molly’s chorus and orchestra at school had their first concert in December. In past years, they’ve held this in January, but this year they pushed up the concert for Chorus, Advanced Orchestra, and Advanced Band (Beginner Orchestra and Beginner Band still got the extra month of practice before a January concert).

First up was chorus. The first song even had a student accompanist playing piano.

The orchestra concert came next. Molly was really excited for this, as she knew they’d recognize the students selected for GT Orchestra and Sinfonia. As you can see after the first song, she was excited (though perhaps lacking some humility). And sorry for the shaky camera then - I was trying to change lenses quickly.

They did a great job, though this concert really hit home how much more advanced Molly’s GT Sinfonia is.

This year, Molly auditioned for and was accepted into the GT Sinfonia. This is a countywide orchestra that is very difficult to get into. They have a 2 hour rehearsal every week at one of the local middle schools. They had their first concert after only 7 rehearsals, and they were phenomenal as you can see here. The first two songs I recorded up close, and the second two are wider to see the whole group.

And here are a few pictures from before the concert started. Most of the kids were very serious when they came out to play. Molly… not so much.

Most of the time, the girls are in two different choirs at church due to their age difference. But there’s an occasional year where they overlap, and this year is one of those years. Leah is now old enough to join Joyful Noise, and Molly won’t move up to middle school till next year. So, they get to sing together. Here’s there first performance in October.

In November, they sang again. I even got to accompany them on the second song.