While concertgoers trickle in and seats fill up, the distant sound of violin, viola, cello, and bass wafts in the air from down the hall like sweet pumpkin pie on a grandmother’s windowsill. Its melodious tilt drifts and fades as the hour wanes, before the auditorium is draped in darkness, and the stage lights up with drawn curtains. Suddenly, the student musicians have positioned themselves accordingly. It’s show time.
Johnson’s orchestra carried out their first performance of the school year on Oct. 9 at the Hays Performing Arts Center in a cooperative effort to bring harmonious music for the newfound autumn spirits. Their next show is Dec. 5.
“I think we did really well,” director Erik Cavazos said. “The first concert of the school year always lays the foundation for where the rest of the year is going to go, and I think we learned things about how we perform, and that’s going to help us move forward. Overall, we had a strong start for the year for sure. “
The orchestra program is composed of Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity players, who both played last Thursday in separate sections. JV performed first with three musical pieces: “Velocity” by Brian Balmages, “Shadow Fire” by Randall Strandridge, and an assortment from the renowned Pirates of the Caribbean score by Hans Zimmer. Varsity followed with another three: “She Will Hang The Night With Stars” by William Hofeldt, “Rhythm Dances” by Balmages, and Latin bolero, “Bésame Mucho” by Consuelo Velázquez.
“I’ve done orchestra all throughout middle school and my freshman year, so I have experience in the art,” sophomore Jaclyn Harris said. “I felt okay about the performance. It wasn’t spectacular. I don’t think it was our best performance, but nothing went wrong in my opinion. I believe I did good besides some parts I think I could’ve done better. But overall, I think it was all fine.”
Dutifully, the orchestra rehearsed every class period for its entire 90 minutes, alongside a couple of after school and at home practices in the last few months. Varsity exclusively has weekly commitments at sectionals, where they gather to rehearse by respective instrument every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after school for an estimated hour.
“We were fully prepared,” sophomore Joclin Hill said. “There weren’t very many pieces to practice, so for the last few weeks we spent cleaning everything up, I think we got it down to a T for the show.”
The concert brought a sizable, celebratory-worthy crowd of supporting families and additional admirers. However, Hill has brought attention to the small size of their ensemble, and as a result, audience members have decreased in numbers over the years.
“We’re hoping to grow a full auditorium of people that love to listen to orchestra music,” Hill said.
Opinions on the overall show’s quality varied between members. Student musicians like Hill and Harris believed the concert, although not a total disaster, didn’t prove their best. Others like Cavazos, who has been teaching orchestra for 12 years, considered it a performative success.
“I think we did well,” Hill said. “There were some timing issues for some of the sections, but overall it was a good performance. For the section that was off a little bit (the first violins), we sped up a measure. But then our section leader, Hazel [Barksdale], got us back on track. Like we just looked at her and we got right back up.”
Mechanical mistakes and wounded pride aside, the school’s orchestra has stated honest enthusiasm to continue with the program following the fall and spring semesters, combating trepidations with deeply-rooted confidence in manifesting triumph for future performances.
“I’ve been with the orchestra for a while now and I’ve always been pretty passionate about performing,” Hill said. “No matter how we did, I probably would have had the same attitude for the year on because then we can grow as an orchestra progressively throughout the season. So yeah, I’m excited.”
