Orchestra begins week of UIL contests Tuesday
Orchestra is switching things up. Instead of learning music from their instruments, they are singing before class. This is being done to help the students’ hearing ability.
February 26, 2019
One of the orchestra’s biggest performances of the year, the annual UIL concert/sightreading contest is taking place Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at Plano East and Centennial.
“We’ve had morning rehearsals and individual rehearsals for violins, violas, cello, et cetera, and we also rehearse at ton in school,” junior, violinist Geethika Bonthala said. “We’ve had a lot of rehearsal, and we’ve all practiced a lot, so think we are prepared.”
Hoping to have prepared her students well, orchestra director Julie Blackstock hopes all the preparation pays off.
“We’ve been working for 6 weeks,” Blackstock said. “We were working in class and outside of class.”
The workload has been heavily for all students in orchestra, and this is true for senior bassist Jordan Johnston.
“I think it will be good, I think we’re ready,” Johnston said. “I think we’ve practiced a lot and we’ve been preparing for UIL, and usually we do pretty well, so I think we will do pretty well this time too.”
While the preparation for the music was thorough, some aspects of the competition are still nerve-wracking for students.
“I’m nervous for the sight reading,” Johnston said. “We can’t really prepare for that, and simple mistakes people make throughout performing, but I think well be ok.”
