On Feb. 28, Aragon’s Chamber Orchestra participated in the National Orchestra Festival at the Hilton in San Francisco’s Union Square.
The annual festival is hosted by the American String Teachers Association, and was attended by middle and high schools orchestras from across the nation. The festival was held as part of the ASTA National Conference, which included workshops and sessions for teachers in music education.
At the festival, Chamber Orchestra performed their music in front of judges and received an average score of 87 points across six categories: tone, intonation, rhythm, technique, musicianship and repertoire. This score just met the threshold for the highest level “outstanding” distinction, reached at 86 points.
This is the first time Aragon Chamber Orchestra went to a nationwide festival.
“This festival is about the biggest deal for [the] orchestra world ever,” said Director of Choirs and Orchestras John Chen. “It is this district’s only time ever when we are performing on a national stage in [the] last 30 years … Orchestras [around] the United States, including string [and] full orchestras, every single string player, string teacher, conductor, [was] at this festival and conference.”
The orchestra played Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Mahler’s Adagietto from Symphony No. 5, Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8, “Spring Breezes” and “Mo Li Hua.”
“We have combined different types of classical music from different time periods, different places and also [more] modern music,” said sophomore and principal violist Jaydon Li. “The last two pieces, ‘Spring Breezes’ and ‘Mo Li Hua,’ [are] traditional Chinese folk songs, which makes this program an international journey.”
After performing, Aragon received a clinic during which Jeffrey Grogan, a music professor from Baylor University, conducted the orchestra and offered suggestions for improvement.
“[The clinician] talked a lot about the emotions in [the Shostakovich piece], and how [we] had to have a lot more despair, like [a] really intense war scene,” said junior concertmaster Laura Wang. “Something really interesting that he said was that oftentimes when we’re playing in orchestra, we only listen to our own section, … but we need to listen across sections to really connect the music together. After he said that, he had us try it, and there really was a difference … The notes sounded a lot cleaner just because everyone was playing the right [notes] at the right times.”
Chen had to apply for Chamber Orchestra to participate in this festival. The orchestra’s high ratings at previous festivals was a strong factor in them being accepted.
“Our orchestra has been growing a lot recently: we’ve been having good musicians, we’ve been going to a lot of competitions and we’ve [had] a lot of achievements,” said sophomore cellist Kana Ueno. “We went to the [California Music Educator’s Association] State Conference in Sonoma last year, and we got a really good review by the judges.”
Since Chamber Orchestra was selected to participate last spring, they began rehearsing the music in class at the beginning of this school year.
“At the start of the year, we already had this vibe of, ‘We’re gonna work hard,’” Li said. “The whole year’s rehearsals were pretty much dedicated to this national orchestra festival … It’s a really special feeling when everybody’s working towards one collective goal. Everybody is becoming so determined, and we really drill into all sorts of details.”
Outside of school, the musicians were expected to practice two hours a week and attend sectionals during FlexTime to rehearse specific parts of pieces. Students also completed practice assignments where they recorded themselves playing the pieces.
“My interpretations [and] my feelings in the pieces have really grown,” Wang said. “For example, I had a solo in the Shostakovich and at first, I didn’t really know how I wanted to play it: whether I wanted super red hot and angry, or just flat and desolate. Through this process of preparing for this festival, I got to know the piece, and I was able to refine my musical interpretation [and] what story I wanted to tell through my music.”
Chen sometimes invited guest conductors to coach students and provide insight on the music.
“[The guest conductors] have a special insight,” Li said. “It’s giving us more variety and more perspective [on] music. And these guest clinicians, they are rehearsal machines. They reach maximum efficiency during rehearsal every single time they come in … They really help us learn and improve, not only personally, [but] as a group too. They’ve made our ensemble much tighter [and] more together.”
Aragon’s Chamber Orchestra’s next concert will be the Symphonic Pops Concert, with Wind Ensemble and the choirs, on March 26 at the theater.
