PREP

Introduced in 1995, the Central Illinois Prep Orchestra is designed for string players that have at least one year of playing on their instrument but have little or no experience playing in an ensemble. The students will work on note reading and rhythm patterns and develop confidence and listening ability. The level of music will be similar to that of an elementary honor orchestra

PREP Orchestra Conductor Betsy Jones...

...has conducted the orchestra since its inception in 1995. She has taught in the Peoria Suzuki Program, Bradley University Preparatory Program, Sun Foundation and currently teaches at the Roosevelt Magnet School, Peoria, IL. She has been a member of the Peoria Symphony, Opera Illinois, the river City String Quartet, the Apollo String Quartet and the District 150 String Trio. Mrs. Jones attended Indiana University and the University of Illinois and received a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Music Education.

Conductors Notes

Prep Orchestra Conductor Betsy Jones' Message

This summer has been a summer of musical and personal events for me and my family...my oldest daughter, Lindsay (former concertmaster of CIYS) was married June 23rd in Peoria. One of the performers at her ceremony was another CIYS concertmaster, Emmy Holmes-Hicks, a good friend of hers. Upon her return to San Jose, California after her honeymoon, she was hired for the upcoming year to conduct the Santa Clara Concert Orchestra. My son Ben (former cellist and french horn player for CIYS) just finished his first year of grad school in the San Francisco Conservatory as a tenor. He has accepted the conducting job for the San Jose concert orchestra position and is busily getting a summer camp ready for that group....many phone calls about repertoire for both groups have ensued. Kate (former bassist in CIYS) will be returning soon from a 6 week musical experience in Madrid and Prague to finish her last year at Illinois Wesleyan University. Mike has finished a production of "Annie", as well as playing first trumpet in the top lab band at Birch Creek music festival. He will round out the summer at East Light in the role of the Reverend in "Footloose" in September. So you all can see that I have been darting from one thing to another this summer....my thoughts have intentionally been focused on my children and the amazement of all that they are able to accomplish in short amounts of time. I am sure that many of you have the same sort of energetic summers, and will be quite content to settle back into the school routine once it starts.

I had some time to think of this coming year's commitment to Prep while sailing in Traverse Bay with David not long ago....if anything I want to emphasize the importance of coming to each and every rehearsal PREPARED. It is already obvious that you need your materials---your stand, music, and instrument. What I need from every one of you is your minds, your creative ideas, and your familiarity of what is on the page. You need to look at the music before the rehearsals to make sure that you are giving your very best to the rehearsal. Then we do not have to concentrate on the barest of essentials---learning the notes---we can go beyond to discover what the essence of the pieces are about, and we can collectively put our own musical mark on each piece. Think how exciting that will be, and how much fun it will be to achieve this year! I have no doubt that this can be the best year yet!!! Together we WILL.
Mrs. J

Tuition

The current tuition for the PREP Orchestra is $125.00 per year. This is payable in two installments. The first installment is due in June at time of notificaion of acceptance and the second installment is due in September when rehearsals begin.