As I neared the music wing , I could hear the faint sound of violins , cellos , and flutes tuning . We were all there to practice as a symphonic orchestra . I took out my violin in the hallway and entered a full music room bustling with kids and instruments .
This year the orchestra is playing four songs — Waltz ( from The Sleeping Beauty ), Christmas Bits & Pieces , Dreams of Fireflies , and Christmas Eve . Meanwhile , the band is performing four of their own songs along with collaborating with the orchestra on Dreams of Fireflies , Waltz , and Christmas Eve .
In the band and orchestra , there ’ s a total of 13 instruments to choose from ; including the violin , viola , cello , contrabass , flute , clarinet , trumpet , trombone , saxophone , French horn , tuba , as well as percussion .
The music program at SLAS is now headed by Mr . Oleksandr “ Sasha ” Voloshchuk . He is a classically trained musician from Ukraine , and he has been with our school for over five years now . He ’ s a multiinstrumentalist who can teach strings , brass , reeds , and percussion ; and he feels most at home with the trumpet . He previously played professionally in a number of bands and orchestras including the symphonic orchestra of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine , the Disneyland band in China , and a military orchestra .
He has begun to introduce new textbooks to the band and orchestra starting from lower levels .
There are many different classes and performers at our school . The program consists of the band ( taught by Mr . Petro Vusyk ), and orchestra ( taught by Mr . Sasha ). Both of which are split into beginner , intermediate , and advanced levels . There ’ s also the primary music program taught by Ms . Kelli Lair and Ms . Polina Chen . According to Ms . Kelli , they will perform in this school year ’ s winter and spring concerts .
At SLAS , students have to play an instrument of their choice starting from fifth grade , and music classes are mandatory until high school . Most students choose to continue studying music well into high school .
Every song performed is handpicked by Mr . Sasha . He said that he listens to a lot of music from a number of publishing company channels on YouTube to select compositions that sound good and are fit for our orchestra . Usually , we read and practice the songs over a span of 2-3 months . Additionally , there are weekly afterschool sessions for different groups performing in the concerts .
According to Mr . Sasha , this year ’ s winter concert is going to be on December 10 . We are all excited to see the band , orchestra , and symphonic orchestra perform this year . There will be specific pandemic measures in place to ensure everyone ’ s safety , just like last year , and we are planning to open up the concerts for parents this year .
29 | SLAS TIMES
The primary band plays a number of instruments including recorders ( for third grade ), ukuleles ( for fourth grade ), jingle bells , rhythm sticks , and xylophones .
We perform some compositions in collaboration as the symphonic orchestra . Last year we performed Pirates of the Caribbean . It is my fifth year playing the violin , and I now play as a first violin in the advanced orchestra .