ELECTRIFY YOUR STRINGS! WITH OAK HILL HIGH SCHOOL ON THE TODAY SHOW!

In mid-September 2010, we got a call from Jim Thompson, a producer from NBC-TV's The Today Show, telling us that he got approval from the network to do a segment on our work with Electrify Your Strings! and wanted to find out where our Inferno tour was taking us next.

The question of the day was where to shoot this - with so many EYS programs on our tour schedule, which would be the lucky one to participate in this incredible opportunity? After discussing our schedule with Jim, we determined that Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio would be PERFECT. First of all, Mark had visited Oak Hills several times before and already knew that Orchestra Director Maria Palassis was amazingly brilliant in every way; and second, this was going to be the first visit that included vocalist Laura Kaye and drummer Elijah Wood. We had two weeks to get all the pieces to fall into place, and fall into place they most certainly did.

The resulting feature story aired nationally on Monday 12/27/10 and we posted it on YouTube for your enjoyment:

The slideshow below will give you a taste of what a great experience this was for all involved (click on the little comments box on the bottom left to read the captions):

HERE'S AN EXCERPT FROM LAURA KAYE'S PERSONAL JOURNAL ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE:

Day 1 (9/30/10): Woke up around 8:30 am, had a little breakfast, did some yoga, and let nerves get to me a little before grabbing some lunch and heading over to Oak Hills HS for Day 1 of this very special EYS visit, at which we would be filmed for a feature story on NBC’s The Today Show.

Jim Thompson, the producer, told us to arrive at the school at 2:00 pm so he could film a very special greeting the students had prepared in our honor. As we got out of our car and approached the school, the entire drum corps started pounding out the most amazing rhythms and I danced my way towards them, Mark and Elijah on either side. About 50 seniors stood to the left cheering while the drummers did their thing on the right and we screamed and high-fived everyone as we walked up the middle. All I could think of was that this was the best welcome we had ever received.

Jim was filming all of this and when we got inside, he put a lav on Mark so he could catch his reaction to what awaited us inside the auditorium. We were led to the entrance and hung back until everything was in place. As we made our grand entrance, the orchestra and choir students – all on stage – screamed and shouted and BOOM – off went the confetti cannons! Wow! Mark gave a little speech to the masses, and I fired up the choir as I gazed into their open, excited faces.

When everything started dying down, we brought our gear inside and started setting up on the stage as the students re-set their positions and Elijah’s drums were moved into position.

At 3:00 pm, I was escorted into the choir room where I was introduced to 40 students comprised of the Highlander singers (freshman and sophomores) and about a dozen “varsity choir” students (juniors and seniors).

The choir picked up the material FAST and they picked it up GREAT. Assisting me was the 4th grade choir teacher, Mrs. Schneider, who did a great job focusing some of the parts.

Just as we were in the middle of Born to be Wild, Jim came in and started filming. Perfect timing! The energy in the room was escalating as we were going over choreography and by the end of the song their screams were deafening!