Out there, in the community

Here’s what a small town orchestra can do:

I am writing to ask if you would please consider covering an upcoming special event (poster attached). It stands out for several reasons:

1. The concert is comprised entirely of one new work, which I composed specifically for the orchestra, specifically for the space, and specifically with the children and families in mind. It is a unique story for narrator and orchestra that’s more intertwined than works in the same genre. The orchestra will be set up differently so that the audience is in the middle to better experience the sound effects.

2. I am a professional musician with a formal diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder and Hearing-Motion Synesthesia, both of which heavily infludenced how I composed the work. I taught early childhood music for many years and wrote my own program including dozens of songs. So this work is the culmination of being a neurodivergent musician using my own quirkiness to reach young audiences at a new level.

3. This particular concert is presented in conjunction with the downtown businesses annual Trick-or-Treat event. It is being presented downtown, in the restored Hall, and only lasts 20 minutes and will be repeated for a total of 4 times so as not to force a choice between music and happenings on the street. We will be incorporated into the town’s event.

4. CWSO is the definition of connecting community with music because our players are a mix of professionals, adult amateurs, and music students. We have played in schools, churches, bars, the farmers market, Harpers Ferry National Park, in the street, and at several momentous occasions in the county – the opening of Charles Washington Hall after the historic restoration, Happy Retreat during it’s restoration, and official grand opening of The Amp at our County Parks & Rec, and collaborated with other organizations for non-profit fundraisers. Our concerts have always been free (donations accepted) so as not to exclude anyone for financial reasons.

5. Last year we celebrated our 10th anniversary season and this upcoming concert is the start of our 11th, and is a return to our annual Haunted Symphony concert, which stopped because of the pandemic.

6. Our typical season concerts (pandemic notwithstanding) are the Haunted Symphony, Holiday Play-a-long during which we invite people to join us in singing and in playing their instruments (we’ve had guitarists, saxophonists, and several traditional orchestral instrumentalists join for this), and a more standard Spring concert that features young artists, and often a professional guest artist as well. Most years we have also had a Summer concert that varies in setting, as well as the extras as described above.

7. Much of our programming targets young audiences and all of our concerts are family-friendly, as are our rehearsals so that parents of young children can play with us as well.

8. We are not massive, we don’t have a massive budget because our focus and attention has always been on the concerts and working with the community at all levels. But we are mighty, we are innovative, and I’m trying to bring attention to it.

9. Another musician’s parents moved to our area from Northern, VA during the pandemic and together, appropriated the name of our cultural heritage, to which they have no claim, and put a lot of money into creating flashy promotional materials for a new festival under that name and has been treating the local musicians as being beneath them, is poaching our donors and students. I don’t care if they exist, more music is always better, but we could really use the spotlight so that those of us who have been investing in music, music education, and community music aren’t out-spent. Because if we are, then the programs we have spent decades building will dwindle. Only the parents of one musician live in the area (as I said, recently) and all the rest fly in from out of town, play, collect the money, and leave again. A rift is happening and getting wider, but I do fear their money and connections to high-profile outlets will win. The donations and grant money we take in goes first to paying our local professionals and guest musicians. Our director, a local (and my husband in full disclosure) donates his time and has never been paid, and the Board has always done the administrative work as well on a volunteer basis so that we can sustain the concerts without depleting our community of money. I explain this for context and why this would make such a positive impact on us – not because I am asking you or anyone to post negatively about the others, or even about the rift itself.

So, please – will you consider highlighting the unique and special concert we have coming up? We truly believe that we are addressing the concern of the rapid increase of average age of classical audiences, and have been doing it for our entire existence.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration! Feel free to reach out with any questions you have regarding any of this.

Most sincerely and with all the hope I can muster,

Andrea Diggs