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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-offriends, 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 rhythm would 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!