I became very excited when I attended an informational meeting for people interested in auditioning for the Thomas Dale Orchestra. At the meeting there were many activities listed on the teacher’s board, and I desperately wanted to be involved in all of them. I was glad that I made the auditions, but once I went to school at Thomas Dale there were not many projects to be apart of, other than playing in the seasonal concerts. One day a lead singer for a local band visited our class and became talking about a Rock for Life concert. To be honest, I was not focusing on what she was saying until she said that this year the benefits will be going towards people suffering from AIDS in Africa. I had seen many television shows about the issue of AIDS, but I did not know what I could do to help the suffering people. The woman’s name was Jeanine, and when she mentioned AIDS, millions of thoughts went through my head. She asked us for any suggestions on how we could put together the concert, and I felt that there was not enough time to say what was going through my mind. I thought that maybe we could get a chance to speak over the radio, or write letters to various magazines. We could sell red ribbons like the pink ones sold for breast cancer awareness, and if we tried hard enough, people outside of school will be talking about our concert. Jeanine asked us to get into groups and I decided to join the group for advertising. The group will be responsible for getting the word out, or I saw it as having the auditorium stuffed with people on concert day. In our groups we were asked to think of ways to let people know about the concert. Many ideas were thrown about, such as selling cards that students will buy for their friends, or making colorful posters. Jeanine was very excited about our enthusiasm and told us that she had to leave, but we should think about how we could make our ideas happen while she was gone.
Maya
It is 11:18 p.m., Thursday, the 17th of January, Winter, year 2008, the Common Era.Rock 4 Life is an annual benefit concert held at Thomas Dale High School, Chester, Virginia in the Spring. Powered by members of the Thomas Dale High School Orchestra and Offering, a Christian indie-rock band, the concert is the final product of massive amounts of collaboration/creativity/effort/diligence/light bulbs/inspiration/coffee, etc. A pool of left and right-brained ideas has created Rock 4 Life which, every year, chooses a cause for which to raise funds. This year, our second year, we’ve decided on the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Last year, our very first year, we sponsored a local girl suffering from lymphoma. We were able to raise a considerable amount of money to aid her family with her medical expenses, considering it was a brand new project.For the song list, we took various popular songs of 2007 and earlier and created orchestral arrangements out of them. Some songs we played were:- Chasing Cars [Snow Patrol]- Out of Tune [Offering]- Tourniquet [Evanescence]- Sweet Dreams [Eurythmics]
After seeing some of the pictures of children with ribs visible through their skin, it really causes reality to set in. America is so privileged, but mostly everyone takes that for granted… It’s so exciting that we have a chance to make a difference in another person’s life. So much is expected of children in Africa- they are forced to make adult decisions at such young ages. We tried imagining ourselves in those children’s’ shoes, but couldn’t even begin to comprehend the struggles of their daily lives.
Savannah & Helen
Welcome to the Rock4Life concert blog! Last year, the orchestra students of Thomas Dale High School in Chester, VA, and Richmond-based band Offering put on a successful benefit concert for a 14 year-old Chesterfield county cancer patient. This year, all proceeds will benefit organizations that help kids affected by Aids in Africa. If last year’s concert was any indication, this year’s concert will be awesome!
