All dressed up in formal attire, ready to play the pieces that you’ve been rehearsing for the past few months, your friends are in the seats, eager to watch the performance. Jefferson’s orchestra held their annual pre-assessment concert on March 12. The concert served as a dress rehearsal for the upcoming assessment concert, where adjudicators will evaluate the students’ performance this year. However, unlike many other high school orchestras,Jefferson’s orchestra holds the pre-assessment concert during 8th period.
“We choose not to [have an evening concert] because Jefferson students are so busy [and instead have] our pre-assessment concert during eighth period,” Jefferson’s orchestra director Allison Bailey said. “It’s a little bit more convenient and it serves the same purpose to play in front of an audience.”
Pieces are chosen with a variety of tempos, keys and composers in mind. These pieces also play to each orchestra’s strengths.
“Our Philharmonia is huge, so we’re going to play things that are full and rich to flatter a group like that,” Bailey said.
During this year’s pre-assessment concert, Philharmonia played “Darkened Shadows” by Joshua Reznikow and “Point Lookout” by Brian Balmages. Symphonic, the more advanced orchestra, played “Rounds” by David Diamond and a movement from Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence.”
“I like [Souvenir de Florence] the best, because Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite composers,” senior symphonic violinist Angelee Kang said. “I like [how] there [are] a lot of lyrical parts [and] a lot of technical parts in it. I think it’s very nice to play with an orchestra.”
During assessments, orchestras are judged on a scale from one to five—one being superior and five being poor. In addition to playing the pieces they played during the pre-assessment concert, each orchestra also plays a warm-up piece.
“We practice diligently, working on the things that need to be improved, polishing and polishing [our pieces] up until [the day of the assessment],” Bailey said.
On the day of the actual assessment concert, the orchestra will also need to sight read a piece, which is difficult to prepare for due to the nature of sight reading.
“I find music that [the orchestra has] never seen before,” Bailey said. “So they can practice that uncomfortable feeling that they’re going to experience at [the] assessment.”
Despite the fact that there are 5 concerts in a regular school year—including the assessment concert—being nervous is something that many students experience.
“I think everyone gets nervous during a concert,” sophomore symphonic violinist Kelly Kang said. “To deal with that, I just tell myself it’s okay. Even if I mess up, everyone makes mistakes.”