Yvonne Caruthers is a cellist in the NSO.

The last day of our Residency, in Fayetteville, AR, was very rewarding. Those of us who had morning events took the evening bus from Little Rock on Sunday night so we'd be in Fayetteville for early school events: I think the first one was at 8:15am. Several people on the bus were doing last minute preparations for Monday's events. Here is Associate Conductor Emil de Cou looking through a score he conducted with the university's orchestra.

My first event Monday was a strings clinic at Benton County School for the Arts. I was nervous when we arrived because the school's buildings looked temporary, but the interiors were clean and the students were terrific. (exterior of building and Carole Wysocki, NSO, posing with a violin mural).

There were about 50 students in the strings class. The 7th and 8th graders played for me, the 5th and 6th graders listened, and then I talked to them about practicing, being a professional musician, and my career path. They had lots of great questions for me, such as "what's the worst thing that ever happened to you on stage?" or "how long does it take to learn good vibrato?" They had a wonderful teacher, Ely Yale, and I enjoyed my time with them very much.

We had a large, enthusiastic audience----a very nice way to end our stay in Arkansas!