Christmas Events Indianapolis

My name is Sarah and I attend Covenant Christian High School. Each year after Christmas break, students at my school participate in a two week experience called “J-term”, or two week internship. I love music and thought that the Indianapolis Symphony would be a great opportunity. For my two weeks, I was part of the Learning Community. There were many activities and projects that I participated in during these two weeks, like the Young People's Discovery Concert teacher workshops designed to help teachers prepare their students for concerts and assisting HR with paper filing.  The teacher workshop was a brand new experience for me and I loved learning the different ways of presenting classical music to groups of elementary level students.

I was able to sit in on an ISO rehearsal and listen to the orchestra practice. Also, I attended a Happy Hour Concert planning meeting for the upcoming January event. It was interesting hearing all of the work that had been put into the event, and the work that still had to be done. Also, I was able to see the new promotional video for these concerts.

I attended a Coffee Concert and it was neat listening to the orchestra perform the songs that I heard them practice the day before. Also, before the Coffee Concert I served coffee and tea to patrons. It was fun and fascinating talking to the different people attending the concert. That ended my first week at the ISO, and I could not wait for the next week.

On Tuesday of my second week, I helped the HR department again with some filing.  I saw more paper than I have ever seen in most of my life! It was interesting how many papers and documents go through this department.

This week I was able to eat lunch with Becky, the principal piccolo player in the orchestra. It was fun hearing some of her stories and talk about flutes! Then I said bye and continued with my work in the Learning Community - mainly creating a database of orchestra music for the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra program. 

Next came Friday, my last day at the ISO. Today there was a Coffee Pops Concert that I was able to enjoy. I loved this concert and had a great time listening to it.

Well, that was my J-term experience at the ISO. I could not have hoped for a better internship. I learned many things about the business behind the orchestra on stage. I was also able to meet new people and get to know them better. I am glad that I had this opportunity to spend my two weeks with the ISO!