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Orchestra puts on solo performance
High school group that usually plays in concerts with other instrumental outfits gets to go it alone.
By Angela Hokanson
On Tuesday evening, for the first time in recent memory, Glendale High School’s symphonic orchestra had the stage to itself and a show to call its own.
The symphonic orchestra — an audition-only group — usually performs in concerts that also feature the school’s other instrumental music groups, like the concert orchestra.
But on Tuesday night in the school’s auditorium the symphonic orchestra played an entire program on its own, and a difficult program at that, said Amy Rangel, the school’s instrumental music director.
“This is the hardest concert we’ve ever even attempted,” Rangel said.
The program consisted of several pieces by 19th century Russian composers, including Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky’s “Valse Scherzo” and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnol.”
You’d find such pieces most often played by a professional symphonic orchestra, not by a high school one, Rangel said.
Before the concert, the musicians geared up for a challenging night of playing.
“The music is harder than it’s ever been, and it’s only us,” said Karen Santos, 17.
Kenneth Villanueva, 18, was looking forward to playing the pieces, which the orchestra had been working on since last spring.
“It’s some of the great works in the orchestral literature,” Villanueva said.
The students were joined by a handful of guest musicians, who played solos and helped fill out certain instrument sections.
Besides showcasing the talents of the symphonic orchestra, the concert served two other purposes. It acted as a fundraising event to bring in dollars to purchase new uniforms for the school’s marching band.
And it functioned as a final project in Rangel’s master’s program in instrumental conducting from Cal State Los Angeles.
This winter, the instrumental music program embarked on what is expected to be a two-year campaign to raise enough money to outfit the school’s marching band in new uniforms.
The band’s current uniforms are 16 years old and showing their age, Rangel said.
At about $400 each, the uniforms — which have to be strong enough to survive years of wear and tear by multiple users — don’t come cheap.
“They’re a really expensive endeavor,” she said.
Rangel hopes to purchase 100 of them to ensure that there are enough uniforms of various sizes to fit the students who join the band.
Right now, students who don’t have a uniform that fits have been wearing all black during performances at football games and competition.
“We don’t have enough uniforms to even put every student in a uniform, let alone the right size,” she said.
The instrumental music programs will need multiple fundraisers to make the uniforms a reality, Rangel said. She has been writing grants for the project, and she hopes community members will sponsor a uniform or two.
The new uniforms will be mostly black, with silver trim and a red sequined sash.
The duds should infuse the band with a new sense of pride, Villanueva said.
“They’re a little bit more modern than the old ones,” he said.
The symphonic orchestra — an audition-only group — usually performs in concerts that also feature the school’s other instrumental music groups, like the concert orchestra.
But on Tuesday night in the school’s auditorium the symphonic orchestra played an entire program on its own, and a difficult program at that, said Amy Rangel, the school’s instrumental music director.
“This is the hardest concert we’ve ever even attempted,” Rangel said.
The program consisted of several pieces by 19th century Russian composers, including Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky’s “Valse Scherzo” and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnol.”
You’d find such pieces most often played by a professional symphonic orchestra, not by a high school one, Rangel said.
Before the concert, the musicians geared up for a challenging night of playing.
“The music is harder than it’s ever been, and it’s only us,” said Karen Santos, 17.
Kenneth Villanueva, 18, was looking forward to playing the pieces, which the orchestra had been working on since last spring.
“It’s some of the great works in the orchestral literature,” Villanueva said.
The students were joined by a handful of guest musicians, who played solos and helped fill out certain instrument sections.
Besides showcasing the talents of the symphonic orchestra, the concert served two other purposes. It acted as a fundraising event to bring in dollars to purchase new uniforms for the school’s marching band.
And it functioned as a final project in Rangel’s master’s program in instrumental conducting from Cal State Los Angeles.
This winter, the instrumental music program embarked on what is expected to be a two-year campaign to raise enough money to outfit the school’s marching band in new uniforms.
The band’s current uniforms are 16 years old and showing their age, Rangel said.
At about $400 each, the uniforms — which have to be strong enough to survive years of wear and tear by multiple users — don’t come cheap.
“They’re a really expensive endeavor,” she said.
Rangel hopes to purchase 100 of them to ensure that there are enough uniforms of various sizes to fit the students who join the band.
Right now, students who don’t have a uniform that fits have been wearing all black during performances at football games and competition.
“We don’t have enough uniforms to even put every student in a uniform, let alone the right size,” she said.
The instrumental music programs will need multiple fundraisers to make the uniforms a reality, Rangel said. She has been writing grants for the project, and she hopes community members will sponsor a uniform or two.
The new uniforms will be mostly black, with silver trim and a red sequined sash.
The duds should infuse the band with a new sense of pride, Villanueva said.
“They’re a little bit more modern than the old ones,” he said.
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