On Saturday, March 1, the Barrister string orchestra class awoke at the crack of dawn to participate in the AEB Instrumental Music Summit hosted at Garfield Senior High School. Arriving on campus at 6:30-6:45 a.m., the orchestra students ate a small breakfast before lining up for the bus at 7:00 a.m. They arrived at Garfield High School and assumed the position of audience for some other schools scheduled to perform before them, having been given a little grading sheet to express their opinions on how other groups performed.
The first group to play was Kennedy High School, a school with an experienced and reputable orchestra that has been fed from its neighboring middle school orchestral program, Robert Frost Middle School. Their performance was rated as superior, the highest grade at the summit.
The Marshall orchestra was demoralized from their performance, and admittedly many expressed doubts in whether they would compare to Kennedy. After another school went, Marshall was called up to play. They ran through 3 different songs: Minuetto, a short but energetic piece that emphasized contrast in volume, Old Boatman, an atmospheric piece that focused on intonation, and Mystical mage, a fast paced song meant to echo throughout the auditorium and act as a finale.
Afterwards, the Marshall Orchestra got feedback from one of the judges, who complimented them and gave them advice on what to improve, which was mainly tone. Our barrister musicians had many thoughts on their performance, mainly proud of how despite being one of the smaller orchestras, 20 musicians pitted against 30-40 size groups, they were confident and loud.
As the Concertmaster of the orchestra, Catherine, said, “We did really really good, even though we had less people than the other schools. We were loud, louder than even Kennedy, which had a larger orchestra.” Overall, the orchestra considered it a positive learning experience, with the Cello section leader, Aldo, adding “We did pretty good, considering we were nervous. They had more experience, but we have room to grow.”
When asked to give a comment, Mr. Ramirez, Marshall Orchestra Conductor and Music Director of Room 600, said, “Our Barristers gave an outstanding performance earning a Superior rating, the highest rating possible, from the festival adjudicators. We are so proud of our Marshall Musicians for their dedication, hard work and for representing our school. Bravo!!”
