In its third year, the Symphony Orchestra, composed of both the top orchestra students and the top band students, received sweepstakes (division one ratings from all judges) at UIL on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
In addition to competing in UIL, the orchestra is submitting their program to the Midwest Clinic and Conference in Chicago, one of the most prestigious full orchestra competitions in the country. The pieces in the orchestra’s official repertoire are “Variations on a Shaker Melody” by Aaron Copland, the “Adagio from Spartacus” by Aram Khachaturian and “Finlandia” by Jean Sibelius (in program order).
“I’m excited that our full orchestra is playing all-state level pieces this year, pieces that I played when I was an all-stater,” head orchestra director William Bewley said. “I love seeing everybody get to come together and get to make music together. This music is expansive and it’s a great experience for all of our students that they’ll remember.”
The Symphony Orchestra was restarted three years ago when head band director Brian Best joined the program. It had not existed for over a decade prior to being restarted.
“When we first started this up, we did the minimum for UIL, which is a grade five and a grade four,” Best said. “My second year, we did two hard grade fives. This year, we’re not only doing three pieces for UIL, but we’re also doing a fourth piece to possibly be able to submit for the Midwest Clinic and Conference in Chicago. Every year, we’ve done something bigger than what we did the year before, so I see a lot of development with not only full orchestra, but band and strings too.”
The Symphony Orchestra has been meeting every Wednesday after school from 3:00-5:30 p.m., as well as every Friday during fifth period since the beginning of the second semester.
“Full orchestra is definitely more challenging than my regular class,” junior principal violinist Josephine Pink said. “Not only is the music more difficult, but it requires a lot more focus and precision to get a good result since there are more parts to put together. [That] is what makes it so much more fun and rewarding, though.”
The Symphony Orchestra does not only exist for the purposes of UIL and competitions. It is an ensemble that continues to rehearse and perform various pieces throughout the school year, whether it is their winter concert in the first semester, or their spring concert in the second semester.
“My favorite part of full orchestra is getting to work with different directors, as well as being able to learn more about my instrument and different styles of music,” senior flutist Abigail Schwer said. “My favorite piece that we’re playing is [the] ‘Adagio.’ It’s so beautiful and moving, and you can hear the story it’s telling you behind the music.”
Each piece performed by the Symphony Orchestra was directed by a different director. The “Adagio from Spartacus” was directed by Bewley, “Variations on a Shaker Melody” was directed by Best and “Finlandia” was directed by assistant orchestra director Grayson Scott.
“I like to see everybody coming together in full orchestra,” Bewley said. “There’s a stigma in the music world between orchestra kids and band kids and choir kids, but we’re all musicians and a lot of kids in these programs are close friends. I’m thankful to be in the position of having such a supported and committed full orchestra program.”