By KRISTINA SCALA
The Medford Sun
On Tuesday, Feb. 12, a combination of grade levels will join together on one stage for the Lenape Regional and Cherokee Winter Orchestra at the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, located at 130 Tomlinson Mill Road.
Music teacher and orchestra director Karen Schmidt said the performance is made up of various classical pieces such as Beethoven’s “Symphony #5,” “Bacchanale” from Samson and Delilah, “Jupiter from the Planets” and music from “Grease,” “Les Miserable” and more.
“I try to pick music that teaches them good skills,” Schmidt said, adding she tries to find challenging and fun pieces to keep the students attentive while learning new techniques.
Song variety is also chosen to keep the audience interested in the music, she said.
“It’s more interesting for the audience to hear different styles,” Schmidt said.
The students rehearse during the fall, and age groups are mixed together, Schmidt said.
The mix of grades helps freshman and sophomore classes learn a bit more from the juniors and seniors, while the upperclassmen get a chance to learn how to mentor the younger ones, she said.
High school students are not the only ones involved in the performance. Students from the middle school will join Cherokee’s string orchestra.
According to Schmidt, when the middle school students join Cherokee, 120 students will be on stage performing at one time.
“[The middle school students] are just fascinated to be on stage in a big auditorium. Not all students from Cherokee play in Lenape’s orchestra, she said. Eight-five students make up the Cherokee orchestra while there are between 65 and 70 students on Lenape Regional’s orchestra.
“It’s a lot different for them,” Schmidt said.
She said the middle school students get more exposure to music, and they get a chance to see what the high school students are doing.
Classical music and working with a blend of skills are not the only things the students learned while practicing for the winter concert.
“Basically, they have to learn a lot of new techniques,” Schmidt said.
The students learned the historic methods that composers performed their classical pieces, and students also learn how to play in faster tempos, she said.
“They learn new stylistic [effects],” she said.
Adding to the performance, senior orchestra members are announced at the performance. Senior trombone player Rebecca Andrews will also perform a solo.
For more information, visit Lenape Regional High School’s webpage at www.lrhsd.org.
