The Music Studio News

The Music Studio Kids were invited to help celebrate at Saratoga Race Course twice this summer: on August 9^th for the 140^th year of racing at the Race Course and again on the 27^th for Proud to be an American Day.  On the 9^th, our students performed period music in period costumes in the Winner’s Circle, the Race Course Backyard, and in the Bandstand.  Then, changing costumes and musical gears, The Music Studio Kids performed music of a much more recent vintage. On the 27^th, students donned red, white, and blue and sang America's favorites, again in the Winner's Circle (where we were broadcast live), the Bandstand, and in the Backyard.  On both days, our students not only sang and played Orff ensembles, but performed piano solos, duets and trios, and on the flute. They were also thrilled to perform with the “house band” of the Race Course, Reggie’s Red Hot Feetwarmers.   

In December 2007, the Albany Symphony Orchestra and students of The Music Studio performed in the world premiere of their second Paul Gerike composition for orchestra and Orff instruments.  Gerike’s compositions and new arrangements have been performed by many major American orchestras; in the past year alone, he has written for the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Vocalessence, Philip Brunelle, and Libby Larsen, among others.  The day after the concert, our students met with the composer in small groups for question-answer sessions and to celebrate the successful premiere.   Gerike, who composes more than just classical and non-secular music - his work for Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion can be found on the recordings Definitely Above Average and A Hymn to Potatoes - shared the process of composition in a way that was clear and fun for both four-year-olds and fourteen-year-olds.