Music Memory with the Shreveport Symphony - Sunday April 29, 2012 at the downtown Convention Center

I knew where it was located, of course, but I had not been inside the new Shreveport Convention Center since its construction a few years ago. Parking was easy since it was Sunday and all nearby pay lots were closed, but with the gates open, I along with many others secured a safe niche for my car. After traversing a huge pothole (more like a sink-hole) that couldn't be missed at the entrance of one lot just across the street from the front entrance, I grabbed my horn gear out of my Volvo V70 and crossed the street to take a flight of stairs down to the main level and one of several entrances. WOW!  Carpet on the floor, huge space in the foyer filled with bright lights and colors and inside the main hall hundreds of smiling kids and families enjoying the annual ArtBreak Festival.

A special stage had been built for the Shreveport Symphony's Music Memory program. Unlike previous years in which our smaller Music Memory orchestra performed for this area event involving the school children of Caddo and Bossier Parishes to test their musical knowledge, this larger symphonic orchestra was set to play a wide variety of musical favorites from the operatic, Broadway, Dance and orchestral genre, from Bernstein to Haydn, Brahms to Beethoven and Mozart. Students from the various elementary schools had been working hard all year to identify and name 17 pieces of music. Sound easy? The trick is that they are allowed to hear only two measures or so of each piece. (YOU should try it sometime). Extra credit is given for naming the composer. Conductor and narrator was SSO Music Director Michael Butterman.

The winners of this year's Shreveport Symphony Music Memory competition are listed below:

3rd Grade Winners

all Eden Gardens students

1st place - London Holmes

2nd place - Sarah Holt

3rd place - Nylah Tolliver

4th/5th Grade winners

1st place - 3 winners - Laya Tammala, Nichalas Irwin from Eden Gardens and Casey Tonnier from Apollo

2nd place - Emily Watson from Apollo

3rd place - Lugene Davis from Eden Gardens

My congratulations to all of the students who entered this competition, to the schools who sponsored them, and to the long hours and hard work of the Shreveport Arts organizations for continuing to highlight the arts in our community. BRAVO!

The Shreveport Symphony Orchestra

an old buddy of mine from Shreveport Symphony 1990's  - former SSO EXEC Director Corrie Mason

the Shreveport Convention Center