Cellist AJ Moore, a sophomore, practices his cello playing for the upcoming Feb. 10 District 14 Honors Orchestra during class time on Feb. 8. Cellist Doan Duong, a sophomore, has read the pieces they plan on playing at the concert with middle school orchestras. “I know the two pieces (that they’re playing) and I’ve tried them out. And if I were in middle school, I wouldn’t think that they’re the easiest, but it does expose you to some harder music pieces and it opens your mind to what you’ll be looking forward to in high school.” Duong said. Photo by Sam Harwell
Several Clarke County School District high schools and middle schools will be performing together in the E.B Mell Auditorium on Feb. 10 at 3 p.m.
Clarke Central High School will host the District 14 Honors Orchestra concert in the E. B. Mell Auditorium on Saturday, Feb. 10 at 3 p.m. The concert will include orchestras from CCHS, Cedar Shoals High School, Athens Academy Upper School, Hilsman Middle School, Clarke Middle School, W.R. Coile Middle School and Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School.
The concert is only possible because of more District 14 schools having orchestra programs, as the program is slowly spreading to more and more schools. Many surrounding counties have bands, but only Athens-Clarke County and Hall County have orchestras.
“This is the first district-wide Honors Orchestra that we’ve had because in the past, (we’ve) only had a few orchestras in District 14, whereas there’s 30 bands. There are bands in every county and in every school, but there’s only been an orchestra in Athens-Clarke County. None of our surrounding counties have an orchestra in their schools,” fine arts department co-chair and orchestra director Dr. Eunice Kang said.
“This is the first district-wide Honors Orchestra that we’ve had because in the past, (we’ve) only had a few orchestras in District 14, whereas there’s 30 bands. There are bands in every county and in every school, but there’s only been an orchestra in Athens-Clarke County. None of our surrounding counties have an orchestra in their schools.”
— Eunice Kang,
fine arts department co-chair and orchestra director Dr.
There has never been a Honors Orchestra from District 14 before and Kang believes that this will expand orchestra programs to surrounding areas, despite being small.
“It’s a big deal for orchestra because band has always had a huge District Honors Band and they have almost 200 kids (performing),” Kang said. “But for (orchestra), we may be starting small scale, but we will grow as we get orchestra to more surrounding counties and expand.”
Students participating are also expecting musical improvement. Cellist Doan Duong, a sophomore at Clarke Central, thinks the Honors Orchestra is important for student growth and skill development.
“The District 14 Orchestra performance brings out the passion in students who want to perform with people they haven’t met,” Duong said. “They all practice and rehearse the same songs and it’s a good way to learn new communication techniques and make some new friends.”
