When orchestra teacher Miriam Edgar gave students an opportunity to work with college students and clinicians at Augsburg, many were excited to take part.

According to senior Claire Kaiserman, students who attended the workshop spent the majority of the day at Augsburg and worked on their music.

“We went (to Augsburg College) for the day and practiced some of our music with cliniciations there, and then practiced music that we played with the college students,” Kaiserman said. “Then at the end of the day we did a concert.”

Orchestra teacher Miriam Edgar said the workshop was planned in honor of Doug Diamond, a conductor at Augsburg who died last May.

“Doug Diamond had actually worked with our orchestra on separate locations and he had always been like a mentor (to me),” Edgar said.

Edgar said all students were not required to go to the workshop, but those who attended received extra credit.

“Since it was on a weekend I made it extra credit and then also (students) could get letter points for it,” Edgar said. “Usually we have to go out of state for opportunities like this so this was just a huge gift from Augsburg.”

According the Kaiserman, both the high school and Augsburg orchestras played a musical piece in remembrance of Diamond, who had worked on the song with them before he died.

“(Diamond) had worked there for a really long time and Ms. Edgar knew him personally; he was one of her mentors,” Kaiserman said. “So we played the piece “Enchanted Garden” in memory of him because we had worked on it with him last year.”

Edgar said she is proud of her students for going to the workshop and is satisfied with the outcome.

“I’m really proud of students for being willing to just attend. I think it can be really intimidating when you’re a high school student to work with college students and also with big clinicians in our area,” Edgar said. “It’s really cool that they went willing to learn and willing to get objective feedback to improve.”

According to Edgar, the workshop at Augsburg positively reflects the St. Louis Park community.

“I just think it kind of sends a positive message about how excited students are about music here in SLP,” Edgar said. “I think that’s a really amazing reflection that people see of us in SLP.”