With a click right on this sentence you can review some 30 pictures I recently uploaded on our Facebook page. The pictures were taken by Garry Gutterman, a good friend of the orchestra. Thank you Gary for spending Sunday morning with us!

We recently decided to move to the Jacaranda Venice Library. That was a difficult decision, but after a lot of thinking and listening to our members we decided that it was the best course of action. Some of the elements that came into play are related to the challenge of night driving for some of our members, the loss of some of our high school musicians who prefer rehearsing during the weekend, the growth of our membership and the benefits of increased exposure to the Venice community by rehearsing during one of the busiest days at the library.

I look at this move as a very timely opportunity. Our weekly presence in the library will fit perfectly with the objective of building bridges with the Venice community. Of course, we will continue to maintain the relationship we have with the GS community who gave us a home to rehearse and play during 2011.

Beginning Saturday January 7th we will rehearse weekly from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Jacaranda library. This will give us the opportunity to increase our presence in the community during 2012.

I am in the process of compiling a short bio on each of our musicians. In her bio, McLaren Davies sums up her experience with the Venice Community Orchestra by the following sentence – We come together to play music; we play music to come together. To say the least, I am captivated by her thoughtful message.


I think that McLaren captured the essence of our purpose and summed it up very nicely. From now on, I will use this sentence as a tag line for the VCO to better convey who we are. I’d love to hear my fellow musicians reaction to this post.

Yesterday was the first time we played in front of an audience. This was a big milestone for us. We took that opportunity to thank Good Shepherd’s parishioners for hosting us during our weekly rehearsals and introduced the orchestra. We played AIR No 11 by Handle. If you want to hear us please click below.

Click here to hear us play

Click on the link above this picture to hear us play Photo by Al Churilla

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to visit Venice High school. I attended a string orchestra class led by Ms. Iras Roback their music teacher. Ms. Roback was gracious enough to invite me to hear her 30 students play and take advantage of my visit to promote the VCO. The students were just back from their summer vacation, yet their play was wonderful! I can’t wait to revisit in a few months for one of their concerts.

I thought that the students are very fortunate to have the opportunity to play five days a week with such a great coach! I wished I had the same opportunity!

I brought along and distributed a VCO promo flyer to the entire class and let them know that we would be delighted to welcome VHS musicians on Thursday rehearsals. Hopefully a couple of Ms. Roback’s students will decide to join us soon.

To put things in perspective, the VCO is about attracting musicians of all levels.  Some local high schools have wonderful music programs and students who might be interested in joining an orchestra. Luckily, with the help of local music teachers, a couple of students have recently joined us.

Recently, we put in place an “Ambassador Program”. It should help attract more students and build a bridge between the schools and the VCO. Most importantly it can put the student in a leadership position in his/her school and help build his/her Resume. To qualify, the student needs to attend three consecutive practice sessions and show an interest in helping the orchestra grow.

Many moons ago, a teenage student’s Resume showed her work experience with an organization keen on attracting other students – the good old days. She also showed on her Resume that thanks to her good work, she was appointed an Ambassador to help her attract more students to that organization.

The following summer, when jobs were much tougher to get – sounds familiar? – her Ambassadorship appointment was discussed during an interview and helped in getting her the job she had hoped for. How do I know that? The name of the student who shared this story with me is Lori Mabardi, my daughter.