2024/25 School Year

Hello Orchestra Parents and Students!

I hope everyone had a great summer and is ready and excited to get back to playing music in the South Orchestra this year. I truly believe that we will continue to build on the successes of the past few years and that we will see growth in both our community AND our musical skills as we move forward. I wanted to outline just a few expectations for our Orchestra students that will ensure the success that we all know we are capable of.

1)    Always strive for Excellence! Students who work diligently towards refining their skills on their instruments will see the quickest growth. Being lazy about fixing left and right hand issues or not taking the time to work on becoming better readers and counters
(as just a few examples) takes away from the experience for both the individual and the  rest of the group. Striving for excellence at all times is key to our collective success.

2)    Be prepared! Be ready to work! Be focused in class! If we show up daily, with our instruments, music and supplies we have the ability to work. When students forget their things there isn’t a whole lot they can do and makes for wasted time.

3)    Consistency is key. The more we practice, the better we get. The better we get, the more we want to practice. The more we practice, the better we get. The better we get, the more we have to practice….  You get the idea.

4)    Lastly, performances are MANDATORY. Missing a performance is pretty much inexcusable. We work really hard on building our skills for months to offer polished performances to our audiences as an ensemble. Missing a performance is a let down to both the students section and the rest of the ensemble. Orchestra is very much a team activity and if the team is going to do its best everyone has to be there.

Getting a good grade in Orchestra is as simple as showing up consistently, taking the work we do seriously, and turning in the things I ask students to turn in. It is not a lot and it is pretty straightforward. If an assignment is missed I am happy to work with students who need a little more time to turn things in, but I have no interest in letting students skip assignment after assignment and then hoping to get everything turned in at the last minute. Doesn’t work for me and is needlessly stressful for the student.

Please take a moment to look over the attached pdfs of our calendar for the year as well as our welcome handout. If you have any question please do not hesitate to ask. I am infinitely reasonable and constantly strive to have a happy, healthy Orchestra community here at South.

I look forward to everyone having a fantastically musical  year in the South High Orchestra!