The Orchestra groups of Olympia High School started off strong at their first concert of the year on the evening of Thursday, November 3rd. The performers came onto the stage with a sense of courage, confidence, and dignity while being a little nervous.

The performers crowded the stage with their instruments and settled into their spots. Performers were assigned to specific orchestra groups based on their individual grade levels. They sat in their seats, waiting for the conductor to count them in. With the freshmans and sophomores feeling anxious to start playing, they took deep breaths and were able to remember the training they had received from orchestra professionals.

Joseph Dyvig, the orchestra director for OHS, spoke on behalf of the performers, especially some of the newer, younger performers, stating “I know for sure some students were nervous, and I think anytime — I think there are multiple things that as a teacher, I need to remind students of and teach to. One is that going through the performance cycle and experiencing those feelings is very normal…”

Senior Cole Bennett, a performer in the symphony orchestra, also stated that some of the performers may have experienced “first-concert nervousness but nothing out of the ordinary, just because we were so well prepared for it.”

Bennet mentioned that there was an Orchestra festival at PLU, where they were adjudicated by an orchestral professor at that institute due to their performance. The professor helped them improve through feedback and guidance that Dyvig and Christian used to prepare their students for performances.

Senior Paul Lee remarked that the orchestra was very on point and played the majority of the pieces correctly and in sync. He really liked their performance on the Mozart pieces they played went and stated that “personally, in my opinion, I think we articulated those really well, and that really helped in making the Mozart pieces sound like ‘Mozart’” to which he concluded that he enjoyed that part of the concert and overall “it went great.”

Orchestra has a strong division of students that hold a lot of promise and skill this year. The younger performers persevered and came through strong and resilient in the end, and overall, the concert was well rehearsed. Everyone was on tempo and precise with their notes, in fact, hardly anyone went off-key at all during the entire performance.

It’s safe to say this year’s Orchestra has a big shot and plenty of talent to perform amazing pieces for the audiences this year.