By Melanie Parrish

As the audience stills, freshman Grace Reising places her bow to the strings of her violin, preparing for the final piece of the orchestra’s spring concert. The spring concert earlier this week was the last concert of the year for the orchestra and marks the end of the first year of high school performances for freshman string players.

This milestone provides an opportunity for many freshmen to reflect back on this year and to compare to years of musical experience at Highland Hills.

“People are more committed. The music’s harder, but it’s more enjoyable because it’s more challenging,” said Reising. At the same time, pieces are often mastered more quickly at the high school level, despite the more difficult music.

“The music’s a lot quicker to learn, because there’s less distractions,” explained freshman Lauren Titus. However, this may also lead to more stress on a musician’s part at times.

“Teachers give us more respect — they treat us like adults,” said freshman Anna Rogers. “It’s a disadvantage [sometimes], because they expect a lot more of you in high school.”

The transition from middle to high school has its highlights though, according to Reising.

“It’s more organized, and we get more independence. The high schoolers seem a lot less terrifying now.”