Adventures in Orchestration

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to take our school orchestra to an orchestra festival held at Northridge Elementary School in Orem. How much fun was that! There were probably 300 kids all playing together, learning, and having fun. The event was put together by Al Huish, the Northridge music teacher. Somehow, despite all the talk of music disappearing from our schools, and the problems it creates, Northridge has managed to retain a full music program that is the envy of the district.
It was a fun event, with all the kids playing a stirring military medley together, which we are going to use in our school concert, and then every school playing two or three pieces of their own. We chose an arrangement of the Harry Potter theme


song, as well as an arrangement of Star Wars. Both pieces that I was able to order were a little too difficult for our fledgling orchestra, so I rearranged them for more ease of playability. It was the first time I had ever done anything like that, and it was challenging, but very fun. To keep the essence of the piece, and the parts, and still allow it to be played by very beginning players. Pleased by this success I went on to write the accompaniment to the military medley for our pianist. Wow, something new to do on the computer, just what I needed. Now I am working on a collection of hymns for my private violin students. The kids learn so much through music, but it is wonderful to see them get all excited about playing a piece of music that they recognize, and that they can play for their family and friends. Star Wars is the most difficult piece we have played to date, with a key change, and rapid shifts between quarter and eight note lengths, and yet the students learned it in record time. Now if we can stay focused until our concert!!