Freshman Lemuel Lan entered the symphonic orchestra for the first time this year after auditioning for a seat last spring. And he’s not alone in taking up this challenging orchestra class. In fact, he is one out of the 16 freshmen in the ensemble.
This year, almost half of the CHS Symphonic Orchestra is made up of freshmen. With this many freshmen in the 33-person troupe, the group is up for some changes.
“Sometimes, there is a large number of graduating seniors and it impacts the group the following year as if we need to start over and develop the new sound,” orchestra director Julie Hoffman said. “With so many younger members we will spend time developing the group sound and getting everyone used to one another.”
The symphonic orchestra is an ensemble where students from grades eight to twelve audition to be accepted. For many of the freshmen, entering symphonic orchestra was a way to challenge themselves to become better musicians.
Freshman Maddie O’ Reilly-Brown also tried symphonic orchestra to test herself, but was surprised to see that it was more difficult than expected.
“That’s really good though that it’s challenging me,” O’Reilly-Brown said. “What I think will be the most helpful thing is that we have to do a lot of sight reading. A lot of us in symphonic are pretty good technically, but as far as improvisation and doing things on the fly we need some extra help.”
Upperclassmen in symphonic orchestra also believe that the freshmen can get a lot out of the experience. Junior Sophia Rotman sees this as a positive experience for the freshmen, and believes that they will enjoy playing in symphonic orchestra.
“The freshman might get intimidated,” Rotman said. “When I joined symphonic as a freshman, I was surrounded by extremely talented people. Now that I’m an upperclassman, I see that there was nothing to be scared of. I encourage the freshmen to play out even if they make mistakes. We don’t judge.”
Junior Brianna Latham also went into symphonic orchestra as a freshman and believes that there is so much to gain from it.
“When I was a freshman, I found that being in symphonic was really helpful with getting used to high school,” she said. “Not only are you surrounded by other musicians that care a lot about the music, but Mrs. Hoffman is a really good teacher with making everybody feel comfortable with each other, the class, and the school in general.”
Along with becoming comfortable with the group, Lan also hopes to continue challenging himself and achieve his other musical goals.
“A main goal of mine is just to really do well in orchestra,” Lan said. “I want to gain better orchestra playing skills when I’m in a class with upperclassmen. It makes me strive to be as good as them. Also, being submerged with better playing orchestra members will help sharpen my skills in general.”