Every week, the orchestra practices for at least three and a half hours until they reach perfection. Many students even play outside of school in order to improve by the time the concerts come around. In one way or another, every single person in orchestra is dedicated to the music that is played, and I think many people ignore that. 

In the four years that I have played in the orchestra, I’ve never seen the orchestra get as much attention as the band or choir. Whenever people ask me if I am in the band, orchestra, or choir (known as the BOC) and I say yes, they always assume I am in either band or choir. I don’t understand why the orchestra is always their last guess because all three groups do similar things. 

The band gets most of its attention from playing at football games, which everybody loves. The choir has several well-known groups such as the Madrigals and Foresters that sing for various organizations. They also host annual school events like vocal valentines which brings them a lot of recognition. These events bring lots of attention to the band and choir, and even though the orchestra hosts events such as the spaghetti dinner and holiday performances in the upper commons, we definitely don’t get talked about as much. It’s frustrating to know that the band, choir, and orchestra all have their own different groups that get involved around the school but the orchestra ones are hardly noticed.

“I feel like the band gets a lot of praise and they deserve it, but I feel like we do equally cool things and we just don’t get the recognition,” symphony orchestra Co-President and violin/viola player Emily Updike said. “I don’t think very many people know what we do.” 

Not only do I believe that the orchestra doesn’t get enough attention, but I also think that many people aren’t aware of the fact that our school has two orchestras: the symphony orchestra and the concert orchestra. The symphony orchestra is more for students who are serious about orchestra while the concert orchestra is for those who like to play for fun. Symphony tends to play longer and more versatile pieces that sometimes include intricate solos while concert plays shorter and simpler pieces. 

Both concert and symphony orchestras consist of talented people from all grade levels who should be appreciated more by the student body. All those students take the time to learn complex arrangements of different genres of music, which can be very challenging. 

Since freshman year, I have gone from being an orchestra member to co-president of the concert orchestra, and I am disappointed that the dedication I have shown for this class has gone to waste. Both orchestras put a lot of time and effort into their concerts, and yet our audiences only consist of family and some friends. Usually, by the time our concerts start, about half of the seats are left open. It’s sad because everyone in the orchestra just wants to be heard. Seeing those empty seats decreases the desire to play and diminishes the amount of passion and heart put into each and every song. 

Orchestra teacher Mr. Robert Bassill feels some people don’t come to our concerts because they want “a more immersive experience.” 

Also, many people associate the orchestra as being “tied with super classical music,” Updike said. 

I believe that this stereotype is a big reason why many people do not come to our concerts. We do play some classical music, but we mostly play a variety of songs that could be upbeat and festive or even some calming ones.

The orchestra is deserving of more attention and I hope that going forward, more students come to our concerts.