The Youth Symphony

The Surrey Youth Symphony rocks. So does Abbotsford. Surrey is very traditional while Abbotsford is very progressive yet both kick ass. It never ceases to amaze me seeing a sea of young kids kicking ass on the violin to some complicated classical piece and another sea of kids on cellos and bases doing the same thing.

High school band is one thing but the symphony is another. In high school you see the progression from grade 8 to 9 to 10. The trumpets don't sound as squeaky and the saxophones have a much richer sound. Yet hearing those woodwind instruments with a huge passe of strings changes things completely. That is a symphony.

Surrey is very talented and hard working playing very complicated pieces sitting in a traditional setting. Abbotsford on the other hand have their strings move around with dry ice and looks like something out of Riverdance or the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

Recently they were playing a magnificent Johann Strauss waltz and I thought to myself that was awesome. Then they had a couple come in and waltz to the song like I had never seen before. It wasn't your average box step, they were all over the stage and a light went on. The great composers that wrote those waltz's for the symphony meant for them to be danced. Sitting in a chair listening to the symphony play the music was wonderful but it was incomplete. The music was meant to be danced and seeing it danced made it come alive. It was magnificent.

The video game Guitar Hero has brought back a lot of old songs only this time we get to appreciate the talent behind the complicated guitar solos of old. Those aren't just four chord rock and roll. Those really did take talent to perform. I saw a clip of the Scorpions playing Rock me like a Hurricane with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. It actually went well together. That's kind of what TSO does.

So here's my point. It's really easy to get depressed in the dark and dreary world. Yet once in a while we get a glimpse of the magnificent and it makes us stand back in awe. It could be a sunrise on the perfect peak or a paddle on a perfect day. Sometimes it could be the symphony of life when the stars align and we have the privilege of witnessing something magnificent. Now that is what I'm talking about.