By Sydney Sears and Delaney Smith
Saturday, May 10, band, A Cappella choir, and orchestra headed to Indianapolis to compete at State. The results are as followed:
A Cappella Choir came in 10th place out of 16.
Orchestra finished 4th out of 16.
Band finished 14th out of 16.
By Megan Johnson
Twenty-five years. For some people, it is an amount of time that can fly by. To others, it feels almost as if it is an eternity. However, to the orchestra students, 25 years marks a significant anniversary for the art that they love.
On Saturday, the orchestra will be headed to state qualifiers for the 25th time in a row. Several of the orchestra members are elated to be a part of this event , including junior Garrett Metz.
“I’m very excited because my dad was a cello player who was involved in going to state for the first time,” said Metz.
Other members, however, claim to be feeling a sense of nervousness, such as junior Layne Hartman .
“We are competing with seven other schools, but nerves always come with performing,” he said.
However, members like sophomore Shannon O’Brien feel nerves take away from the experience.
“Being nervous doesn’t help anyone; I try and stay calm and encourage others to do the same,” said O’Brien.
Several classical numbers will be played, including “Danzon” by Antonio Marquez, “Pas de Deux” by Tchaikovsky and the first movement of Dvorak’s 8th symphony.
Hartman shared that orchestra is not all fun and games; it requires a lot of work.
“Being in orchestra requires a time commitment, but it really requires effort. We must play the correct notes together and play them with style. We have to make beautiful music, and that isn’t easy,” he said.
Metz explained that orchestra has not only taught him the art of working together with others, but how to manage his time around his activity. Metz also shared an interesting fact that of which orchestra inspires.
“You use a completely different part of your brain to create music. Plus, you’re not only working by yourself, you’re working with 60 other people,” said Metz.
O’Brien summed up her orchestra experience in one simple sentence.
“It takes patience, persistence and lots of sass.”
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.”
By Garland Noel
As orchestra director Doug Elmore raises his baton, the orchestra puts bow to string, waiting to start in on the first piece at last night’s spring concert.
“Those run throughs were some of the best we’ve had on those pieces,” said sophomore violinist Ben Carpenter.
Last night the auditorium played host to the last orchestra concert of the year. Featuring Pharrel Williams’ “Happy” and an arrangement of Bruno Mars’ Superbowl halftime show by senior Garrett Jones, the concert was not only the last orchestra concert of the year but was also the last performance at FC for many seniors.
“It’s so hard to be not cliche, “said senior trombonist Craig Bossely. “I’m absolutely positive that the second and third trombones, Zach (Rich) and Chris (Harbeson) will step up and I’m really confident that they’ll do fine.”
While some orchestra members are graduating, sophomore violinist Nathan Destefanis said he knows how the seniors feel, as he is also leaving the program. With so much change, some, like Carpenter, are worried about losing “a lot of amazing talent.” Most, however, echo Destefanis’ parting sentiment.
He said, “It’s a good concert to end on.”
By Brooke McAfee
As the auditorium fills up, the sounds of the orchestra tuning and small portions of various melodies drift to the ears of the audience. The musicians cannot be seen, hidden within the orchestra pit in front of the stage, but when the show begins, they will have a crucial role to play in the musical.
Senior Garrett Jones, who is playing bassoon and conducting three songs for the upcoming production of The Scarlet Pimpernel, explained the process of becoming involved with the pit orchestra.
“When the staff feels that these parts can be covered by students, they ask other directors who the students are they feel are appropriate for these parts, have the skill level to take them on, and have the time,” he said.
Jones said being in the pit orchestra is a unique experience.
“It is a different musical environment than anything else I’m in. No one sees you when you perform, but the performance has very high stakes. The playing is on and off, and there are people singing to it also. That is like nothing I would do anywhere else, with all my musical endeavors.”
Senior Anna Stephens, who is playing oboe and English horn in the musical said the orchestra requires plenty of personal responsibility.
“There are definitely less people than you normally experience in band, but the level of skill is not necessarily any less. In fact, sometimes it is more concentrated, I would say, and you are the only person on that part…there’s a microphone, and everything you play is heard.”
Junior Zach Rich is playing trombone and euphonium in the pit orchestra, and said he enjoys working with the theater.
“My favorite part would probably have to be seeing the show come together with all of the great actors on stage and us musicians down in the pit, it’s an awesome experience when we put it all together for the first time.”
Rich said he also enjoys the music of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and is enthusiastic about the upcoming performances.
“I really like The Scarlet Pimpernel music. It’s gonna be hard to top Les Mis, but I am really enjoying the music as a whole…it is a fun yet challenging experience. I am glad to be in the pit and can’t wait until the performances next week.”
Stephens said one of the challenges includes meeting the high expectations and working with professional musicians.
“They have expectations for you, the director has expectations, and theater has expectations that you will be able to play the music perfectly, like as soon as you start rehearsing, you have to be in it with your mind, step up the challenge, and just be able to play,” she said.
Other difficulties include time management and playing the music in a different setting than many student musicians are used to.
“During hell week, there’s a lot of time management challenges, but just in preparing the show…sometimes the books you get for your parts are really hard, and sometimes parts of the show are just weird with how they line up with the singers. It’s hard just because it is different. The music can be easy and yet it will still be more challenging than many of the other things I do,” said Jones.
Stephens said the experience is worth the hard work, exhaustion, and long hours of rehearsal, and her favorite part of her involvement is her love of the music.
“Even though you can’t see what’s happening, you know the story, and after playing it so many times, you just have this special musical connection with the play. Especially for me, music is very emotional and very important in my life, so it is kind of amazing to have that experience and connection with the music.”
The Scarlet Pimpernel will be playing on March 7, 8, 14, 15 at 7:30 p.m., and March 9 and 16 at 2 p.m.