Thing One’s report: Icicle Creek retreat
by Thing One
Editor’s Note: Thing One recently returned from a four-day musical retreat with his school’s senior orchestra held at the Icicle Creek Music Center near Leavenworth, Washington.
Last Thursday the senior orchestra went to Icicle Creek, and they have for more than 5 years, and I came this year. Icicle Creek Music Center is near the German themed town Leavenworth. The snow there is not too powdery or icy, and there is a great view of the mountains.
After unpacking, we went to the main building and played the music we have been practicing: the 3rd movement of the 3rd Bach Brandenburg concerto, the last movement of the Tchaikovsky serenade, and also the Divertimento by Bela Bartok. After rehearsing music and doing sectionals on the music, we went to our cabins, and went to sleep. The next day, we practiced music again, and watched the James Bond movie “From Russia With Love”.
On the third day, Saturday, after playing music (again), we went into Leavenworth and came to a block of German stores. The stores had things like candy (not just German candy), hats (like my coonskin cap), and funny t-shirts. They also had Cuckoo clocks (which all were over $100.00 unfortunately), little statues of gnomes and bears and birds (Oh My!) and of course, Leavenworth magnets. After about an hour of shopping at the stores, the entire orchestra went to a German restaurant, where they had spaghetti and meatballs, and also a band playing German songs, which people (including me) danced to. After that, we went back to our cabins. It was someone in our cabin’s birthday at midnight, so in our cabin (curfew was 10:00) we celebrated with the candy we bought in Leavenworth.
There were awards, too: I won the prize for best hat with my new coonskin cap. Icicle Creek was a fun experience, and we also got a lot of work on the pieces done.
Tags: cello
