Amanda Armstrong

Sara Cramer

Orchestra Manager

bayyouthorchestras@gmail.com

J. Aaron Hardwick

Christina Morton

Brad Shedd

Sarah Ford, President

Jeff Phelps, Vice President

Cindy Bryan, Secretary

Marquetta Jones

Brian Smith

Kecia Yeates 

Muriel Evory

Janet Kriner

Martin Barritt

Melanie Belongia

Dionne Wright

Have an instrument in the attic?  Consider donating to Bay Youth!  When we perform repertoire that calls for certain instruments, we must rent these, sometimes at great cost.  If you have any of these instruments, please consider a tax-deductible donation to Bay Youth.  You will be helping us provide more financial aid to those who need it, by defraying the cost of instrument rentals.

Our Current Needs:

E Flat Clarinet

Piccolo

Congratulations,  Annika!

 

Melanie S. Belongia, Violin Maker & Musician -

 

A graduate of the Violin Making program at North Bennet Street School in Boston, Ms. Belongia worked for several prestigous violin firms and auction houses before returning to the Hampton Roads to focus on making and restoration. Her studio is located in the Deep Creek area of Chesapeake where she lives with her husband William, also a musician.

 

A graduate of the Virginia Governor's School for the Arts, and an alum of Bay Youth Orchestras, Melanie went on to study violin with Eugene Drucker of the Emerson Quartet at the Hartt School of Music before pursuing her lifelong dream of becoming a luthier. These days, when not at her bench, Melanie can be found playing violin or electic bass with local bands or working on various musical projects in the recording studio with the band Solessin.

 

While in Boston, Ms. Belongia gained experience in arts administration with several chamber orchestras, including Boston Virtuosi where she was Events Manager for five years. She is very excited to become as involved in the arts community here in Hampton Roads. Melanie welcomes the opportunity to give back to one of the organizations that laid the foundation for what would ultimately become a career path in the arts and she is looking forward to working with the wonderful staff, board and talented musicians of BYOV.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eliza Willet, Violin,  Winner, Concert Orchestra Division

Congratulations to this year's winners:

For more information,  click here:  http://www.norfolkacademy.org/orchestracamp

Our season of honoring music educators continued on December 3, when we invited our favorite music educators to join us for rehearsal and cake!  A fine time was had by all.  Many of our teachers mentioned that they would like to see this become an annual tradition.  To us, that means the event was a success!  

 

All day on Sunday, January 27-  bring in this flyer when you eat at California Pizza Kitchen, Va Beach Town Center location-  and 20% of your check will be donated to BYOV!

This CPK is conveniently located next to the Sandler Center.  Treat yourself to lunch before, or dinner after the Side By Side concert on the same day!  You can hear great music, enjoy wonderful food and support BYOV, all in one outing.

It's 3:00pm on another Monday afternoon. I've just finished up an online class and wrapped up my studies for the day, so now I go to practice my violin. Flipping through my music, I pull out that big black folder that says, "Bay Youth Symphony Orchestra". Tonight is rehearsal, so I'm going to warm up some before having to get ready and head to Norview High School. You'd think this would become routine; these nights would end up becoming weekly dates on the calendar used
to fill up time and look good on a college application. You might even think they would become boring, or mundane. But I look forward to every rehearsal. Mondays are one of my favorite days of the week, because of BYOV. The music I get to play, the friends I get to hang out with, and the teachers that invest so much and truly enjoy giving us all they have musically, and even non-musically, makes it an anticipated weekly program.
Dad comes home from work to pick me up. Arriving at Norview a few minutes before 5:30, I grab my violin and music and head in to start my night off mentoring students in the Junior String Orchestra. It's fun to help these kids with the music, my memories being jogged to a few years back when I had just started playing. After about an hour I finish up mentoring and head into the auditorium, ready to tackle the masterpieces of Dvorak, Tchaikovsky and Holst with the Symphony Orchestra. The rehearsal is fun and challenging as I learn to not only play the music, but to play it in sync with everyone else! New motives are entertained, new styles introduced, and a new intensity is instilled with every rehearsal. We're getting better, and the pieces get better every week, too. And then, 9 o'clock hits and it's a wrap. I pack up, head out and wait for next week to roll around.
Now, as I think about rehearsals and the opportunities I have every week, there are so many reasons I could give you why BYOV benefits me. As homeschoolers, though, there may be one distinct reason why BYOV benefits us in particular. Maybe the greatest reason is because, with BYOV, homeschoolers get the opportunity play in an orchestra, period!
Because we school at home, we don't have access to many of the great programs public and private schoolers have, like school orchestras and bands. We rely on organizations like BYOV to further our music education, and because of BYOV we have that opportunity. I had the chance to tour some colleges at the beginning of this school year to broaden my scope of advanced education choices. Expressing my interest in pursuing music as a homeschooler, the first question counselors and professors would ask was if I was participating in any music programs to enhance my music education. After mentioning and describing BYOV, every answer I received was, "Yes! That is exactly the type of program we are looking for" or, "That's great! Just what you should be doing." And in all honesty I can say, of the many things I am doing musically, I would not be where I am now without being challenged the way I have been by BYOV.
This organization has so many unique aspects to it that provide so much to young aspiring musicians. The level of expectation gives rise to a level of playing that will prepare us for an entire future in music. As homeschoolers we get this unique opportunity because of BYOV. So with that, here's a thank you to all of the conductors, musicians and staff who make Bay Youth possible. You have taken all of us to a different level in music, and have opened up the arena of orchestral playing to the homeschoolers who love music, too!

 

We are truly looking forward to our concert on Saturday, February 16th with Churchland High School.  It is always a privilege to have guest performers, knowing that we welcome them with open arms to a musical experience that will enrich, enlighten, and inspire!

 

We all know the benefits of music, or at least we say we do.  There are so many statistics, figures, and research that suggests so many positive things that music does for us.  As if we need these things, but for the sake of lobbyist, music supporters, and advocates they ARE necessary, sadly, to keep the art and education alive.  This being the case, many times we do not hear of the 'other' intrinsic things that music does for us.

 

Let's take the Churchland High School Side-by-Side Concert as an example for our observation.  The premise of the event is that the Bay Youth Concert Orchestra will be joined by high school musicians from Churchland High, which may not otherwise have a 'full orchestra' experience.  This event alone provides some very enlightening and education experiences:

 

Collaboration

 

A "HUGE" word in public education right now, this word has single handedly defined the curriculum of most state education agencies.  Using this to create classroom strategies that help students become self-learners by exploring together.  By working with others, we learn better (imagine that...such a shock!).  Well, in music world, we do this all the time!  When we have guests join us, they have to learn how we operate, how our sound works, and how they will fit into our schema.  Consequently, we learn from them, what their talents will 'bring to the table,' and how we can use that to become a better ensemble.  Furthermore, each and every day we collaborate with each other as musicians to make ourselves better performers, we collaborate with our conductor to find the best path to take musically, we collaborate with guest soloists to decide how to musically approach repertoire.  The list goes on.

 

Commitment

 

An interesting concept these days, as our society finds themselves approaching the notion that most everything we deal with lasts only a few days, hours, minutes, or seconds.  Information moves so fast, we have no need to commit ourselves.  We can get an answer so quickly; there is no need dedicate time to the worthwhile.  Facing this, our culture lends itself to a people who are expecting things to be short, fast, and completed in a matter of minutes.  Music however teaches the opposite.  In order to play you must be dedicated to your instrument, to your craft, your colleagues, and your art.  There is no magic formula, app, or program that can manufacture the sound needed to perform in a matter of minutes.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is true education.  Music teachers battle this everyday while making the classroom an interesting place for students to learn and grow, while being committed to a cause, to a piece of music, to their instruments, and to themselves.

 

Teamwork

 

Working together towards a common goal - I will not receive a Pulitzer for this section.  It is too obvious.  We, as musicians, do this measure by measure in each piece we play.  One of the most desirable traits of employers from Fortune 500 companies is teamwork.  People that take a problem and work together to find a creative solution will not only monetarily make a business more successful, but will help build a foundation for success that supersedes the 'bottom line.' This is music.  The parallels are endless.

 

The list of educational vocabulary taken from this upcoming concert experience is endless.  The intrinsic benefits of music are boundless and full of hope.  Yet, our programs are diminishing.  School education itself is failing.  Is there a correlation between the success of music programs and our overall education system?

 

Opportunities such as this upcoming concert are beneficial to all those involved and will enrich the lives of the audience and student alike.  I encourage each one of you to make a stand for music education, if not just for your child's future.  I look forward to seeing you all at the concert!

 

"Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend."  -Ludwig van Beethoven