Lowell — Lowell High School marching band member Gabs Stodola says the sound of her clarinet can sometimes get lost amid the blasting tubas and trombones.
But when she rehearses with the full symphony orchestra, the clarinet gets its due attention.
“In symphonic winds, there are various solos where clarinets would be the highlight. It’s a very beautiful instrument,” said Gabs, a junior.
There are a lot of busy musicians at Lowell High School. Some march in the band. Some play in the orchestra. But a slice of time is carved out weekly for about 50 students representing the top musicians in both groups to come together and create music. It’s often a lesson in modifying style and adapting to different expectations, students said.
“The pieces are definitely a lot different. This year we are playing different symphonies that require a lot more emotion,” Gabs said. “It goes from really stern to really smooth and gentle. It’s the contrast that makes everything come together.”
That variation was on display during a recent rehearsal when students played a medley of selections from Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 5,” music from “Harry Potter,” and “La Rejouissance,” from Handel’s “Music for the Royal Fireworks.”
Wendy Tenney, director of orchestras, has led the full symphony orchestra for the past 15 years. Sandwiched between class periods, rehearsals occur during lunch, with string orchestra students starting first. Then, marching band members join for a while before the symphony students head out and the band students continue.
The full orchestra is currently preparing for their fall concert this month, and a music boosters collage concert at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 at the Lowell Performing Arts Center, 11700 Vergennes St SE. They will also compete at the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association’s festival and other state festival performances.
At the festivals, they will be judged on tone, ensemble, technique and musicianship, and hopefully earn an invitation to participate in the state competition, Tenney said.
Lowell High School is one of a small handful of schools around the state that compete as a full symphony orchestra at the state festival.
“Ever since we’ve been doing the symphony orchestra we’ve done extremely well,” Tenney said. “We’ve always gone to state and gotten a Division 1 rating at the state festival.”
Flexing Their Music Muscles
The Lowell marching band is currently playing loud and energetically for stadium audiences, while orchestra students are focused on classical, milder melodies to perform in smaller venues. Playing together requires a mental shift for both groups, Tenney said.
“They are doing double duty and performing very different styles of repertoire,” she said. “The skills that you use for projecting with your instrument out on the field at a football game are very different from the skills that you have to use to produce a characteristic tone when playing as a soloist on stage with the symphony orchestra.”
Trumpeter Samuel Konyndyk explains it like this:
“In marching band you have to play as loud as you can. Here you don’t want to kill people’s ears,” said the senior. “With orchestra it’s not about attacking notes. Some of the songs are calm and you have to blend notes together.”
Students said they get used to finessing their music to play best as a full group.
Hear Them Play
What: Full orchestra music boosters collage concert
When: 7 p.m. on Nov. 12
Where: Lowell Performing Arts Center, 11700 Vergennes St SE.
Cost: Suggested donation of $5 to support the boosters, which provides scholarships to students and support for the music program
“I love it,” said first violinist Tori Stewart, also a senior. “I love when the band is incorporated because it makes the full piece 10 times better than having an orchestra. I love having different instruments.”
“It is fun when there is a piece we all understand and get easily. Last year we did Aladdin and it was the best,” added second violinist Autumn LaKous, also a senior.
That’s what it’s all about: Students from different music groups join together and create something new and different.
“One of my favorite things about music is it’s something where different people all have to come together and be on the same rhythm together,” Tenney said. “They have to be of one mind and come together in unity.”
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