Darby Orchestra Concert

Written by Santi Daza

Being a senior brings a wide range of emotions. It’s an amazing feeling to finally be the oldest in the grade, and it’s nice knowing that you only have less than a year left. However, it’s also emotional on the sadder side. A countdown starts, you’ll eventually play your last game or go to your last football game. As a senior, I’ve felt a whole range of emotions this year thanks to being so close to graduating.

A week ago, on February 26th, I had my last Orchestra contest. For context, I play the 2nd violin in Darby’s highest orchestra, known as Chamber Orchestra. I’ve played the violin for 6 years now, going way back to 6th grade. Once in high school, certain orchestra groups go to the State Competition, also known as the OMEA State Orchestra Competition. At the competition, orchestras choose songs from a list and perform in front of 3 judges, to get the best ranking. Rankings are different, as each orchestra gets a grade between 1-5, with 1 being the highest.

We had less than 3 months to prepare. We practiced our pieces every day, and even had to come in after school to practice more. There was a lot of pressure, as Chamber Orchestra is known for getting all 1s, and nobody wanted to break the streak. We played 2 pieces from Simple Symphony and a Handel piece. While neither of the 3 songs were necessarily ‘hard,’ each had its challenges. We could play the notes, but our goal was to play the song with every single detail included, which ranges from phrasing to style to the type of sound produced.

Less than 3 months later, we left on Saturday morning for our last competition. I interviewed one of my Senior friends, Boshra, on her thoughts about the concert;

S - How did you feel before the concert?

B - I felt anxious, but also prepared. We practiced so much for this moment and I knew that this was our last shot at getting all 1s.

S - I felt the same way. Now, how did you think the performance went?

B - Well first, the stage we played in was absolutely amazing, as their setup allowed for every single instrument to be as loud as a tuba. You could hear every detail. For the actual concert, I think we did very well. The first piece could’ve ended better, but every piece only got better.

S - What was your favorite piece?

B - Easily the 3rd one, Simply Symphony 3. It was so beautiful, and I was crying in the middle of the 9-minute piece because it was so emotional. It’s a sad, slow piece that tugs at your heart. We’ve never played it as well as we did that time in front of the judges.

An hour after our performance, we learned that we earned all 1s. We kept our streak of over 8 years going, and it was all thanks to our hard practice.

Image credit - Mr. Riegel