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Spencer Dang

Mrs. Weitz

English 10 H

6 December 2012

The District Orchestra

About a week ago, I went to the District Orchestra Convention for talented young

musicians in the Northeast Kansas District. They featured two orchestras of the top violin, viola,

cello, and bass players in the state. The Northeast District actually composes most of the state

orchestra, and often players who make district will audition for state. The audition process is

long and arduous, as most players arrive around eight in the morning and practice, wait, and

sleep until they're called to their judge's room. This goes for about the two hundred or so

musicians who tried out last month.

This year, I came to the Convention to watch and support my brother. This was his third

consecutive year in Districts. Several other musicians from Northwest made the Orchestra: Julia

Davis, Chi-Leigh Warren, Nick Leyden, and Clara Davison. Many of the other musicians from

other schools I knew from many other places besides Orchestra, such as church, friends-of-

friends, or piano recitals. The performers themselves had spent eight hours to prepare the pieces,

three in total, for the audience's enjoyment. They worked diligently with a guest conductor who

teaches in the San Antonio, Texas area.

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The performances made by the Freshman District Orchestra were characterized by their

fast tempo, and interesting tonality. In one of the songs, there was a duet between the principal

violinist and violist which is not usually heard today. From there, the melody switched to the

principal second violinist and principal cello, yet again not common today. The sound was

enjoyable, although there were audible mistakes particularly in that one violin sitting in the back

by himself. The next song they performed was much faster, and was written like a fugue, a song

where the melody never ceases between parts. It was interesting to see how the sections fit

together after only been around each other for less than eight hours. Their next performance was

less than memorable, however. I felt they needed to work on their dynamic level; the rhythmwould slow and dynamics would immediately drop in the first violins (not intentionally).

As for the top Orchestra, I was privileged to be sitting in perfect view of the whole

Orchestra. From my seating, I could see about one third of the Orchestra that I actually knew or

recognized from various places. Their first piece began in a odd cacophony coming from the

players rhythmically hitting the bottoms of their instruments. You could hear why the song was

entitled "Danzas de Panema: Tamborito" just in the odd Latino sounds and rhythms. Next was a

sadder, slower piece that didn't suffer like most sad, slow pieces do from natural slowing down.

The player's kept up tempo and all of the soloists performed beautifully! The conductor stopped

and went to the microphone to tell us about how the next piece was meant to showcase how well

the students all perform together. He started the song, and walked directly off the stage while the

Orchestra continued to play. The audience remained quiet, but everyone leaned in to listen for

any errors the students would make. The song went through flawlessly, and I was quite happy to

have gone. The experience was worth it, and maybe next year I'll even audition!