ⓒ 2012 WATV

ⓒ 2012 WATV

Last year, the Church of God Student Orchestra held the “Wind Ensemble Concert for the Youth,” which received great attention and fervent response from the audience. This year, too, they presented the beautiful and touching melodies to the students who were suffering from a lot of stress because of various factors such as grades, career paths, school violence and so on; they held the “Church of God Student Orchestra Concert Tour” in 11 cities of Korea. The concert tour started at the New Jerusalem Temple in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, on February 19 and continued to be held at the Churches of God in other regions such as Gwanak, Dongdaemun and Songpa in Seoul, Nakseom in Incheon, Yeongtong in Suwon, Buk-gu in Daegu, Happo in Changwon, Deokjin in Jeonju and Buk-gu in Ulsan, and finished with its last concert held at the Church of God in Chuncheon on March 18.

The Church of God Student Orchestra, consisting only of student members, had assiduously practiced every piece of music for the concert during their winter vacation. As expected, their concert was a great success every time, being crowded with the students who had been waiting for it. Not only their parents and teachers but even professionals from various fields such as education, music and politics also attended the concert and cheered on the students.

The concert started with a hymn titled “The Bright, Heavenly Way.” It was followed by several pieces of classical music such as Suppé’s “Light Cavalry Overtune,” Shostakovich’s “Waltz No. 2,” and Johann Strauss I’ “Radetzky March,” which were selected to meet the students at their level. These familiar classical music pieces awakened the senses of the students and touched their hearts. Besides classical music, the orchestra also played various other genres of music: “World Folk Song Medley” consisting of 14 folk songs of the world, the orchestral music of the New Songs that are all written and composed by the members of the Church of God, and the barbershop quartet performance along with the orchestra. The students gave the performers thunderous applause and shouts of acclamation and brought back the orchestra for curtain calls. Then the orchestra responded to them with the performance of cheerful music like the song titled “William Tell Overtune.”

After the concert, the students had a joyful time playing traditional Korean games. In actuality, many of the students had spent most of their time playing computer games. That day, however, they experienced the excitement of playing various traditional games themselves, such as Yut-nori (a board game), Jegi-chagi (shuttlecock kicking), Ttakji-chigi (a game of slap-match). They also enjoyed prepared snacks such as Tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) and fishcakes to the full.

ⓒ 2012 WATV

The students who came to the concert with their friends expressed their impressions about the concert, saying, “As we listened to the living sound of the orchestra directly, we were even more touched. And it was also great to be able to share this touching emotion with our friends.” The members of the Student Orchestra, when they finished the concert, smiled brightly and said, “We thought that we had prepared the concert for other people, but actually it was such a meaningful time for all of us. While playing our instruments, we learned how to harmonize with other players and we also experienced the joy of communicating with the audience.” A teacher who was invited to the concert by one of his students hoped that the students would fruitfully spend their adolescence—a once-in-a-lifetime period, saying, “I’ve felt bad because it seems that students these days don’t have much of an opportunity to learn how to get along with others. This concert was a really great opportunity for the students to get along with their friends and share their feelings with one another.”

It is said that the beautiful sound which various musical instruments make even awakens a resonance in the listeners and tugs at their heartstrings. For the students who are going through the stormy period of adolescence, it must be an emotional resonance with their family, friends and teachers. The
student orchestra was a great opportunity for the students to share the resonance of love together, singing of friendship and playing their dreams.

ⓒ 2012 WATV