Preview: winter orchestra concert
The Cedar Shoals Orchestra will host their winter concert on Dec. 10 in the Cedar Shoals auditorium at 6:30. The concert orchestra will perform first, playing “Festival of Lights” (Bud Caputo), “Waltz” from “The Sleeping Beauty” (Tschaikowsky arr. by John Caponegro) and “Boreas” (Todd Parrish).
Freshman and concert orchestra cellist Abby Green has seen the orchestra grow since their fall concert. While learning the music, she says the class has had to also pick up new skills.
“(Boreas) has the highest tempo, so it makes it a lot more challenging, but it’s also really fun. For Boreas, we had a lot of trouble with rushing the song because it was already so fast and we were learning some new things that were in the piece.It was just a little hard for people to figure out,” Green said.
Orchestra director Ryan Lopez has also seen the group’s relationships with each other improve along with their playing ability. Lopez has noticed that there is individual support for each other during after school practices, and it translates into the group setting.
“They’re a lot more supportive of each other. I’ve seen as the semester has gone by, they have grown so much with that. There’s a huge community within the orchestra, and I think that (peer support) definitely brings a lot of motivation to them in rehearsals, in class and practices,” Lopez said.
The camerata orchestra, comprised mostly of upperclassmen, will be playing “Winter Solstice” (Todd Parrish), “Ice Sculptures” (Brian Balmages) and “Christmas Eve/Saravejo 12/24” (Paul O’ Neal & Robert Kinkle, arr. by Bob Phillips).
The orchestra has overcome challenges while rehearsing for the concert like listening not only to the rest of each player’s section but the orchestra as a whole, says first violin Arleth Aguilar, senior. A highlight for this concert for Aguilar is “Winter Solstice” because the orchestra helped pick the song out.
“We wanted to play it my sophomore year, but it was too hard for us at the time, so we brought it back. I’m just really excited because I was playing second violin two years ago, and now I’m playing first and that part is more interesting and fun to me. It’s always pretty fun to choose the music because we get to debate it and decide together,” Aguilar said.
During the concert preparations, the orchestra worked on collaboration and teamwork in order to work on challenging medleys or awkward tempo and key changes. By working in sectionals – each section of the orchestra practices in small groups – and with a cello clinician and a viola clinician to work with those sections, the group worked through challenges.
“I hope they continue with the support, continue practicing and building practice habits, asking questions, everything that they’ve been doing this semester. If they keep doing those things, if we keep building that family environment, we’ll be set. I’m excited for the concert,” Lopez said.
