Orchestra students take on Beatles Tribute

On Wednesday, May 18th, four students played background music for “In My Life”, a tribute play to the Beatles at the Sheldon Concert Hall.  These students were specially chosen to be a part of this performance, and got to work with other professional musicians.  Nick Baggett, a tenth grade student, said, “It was cool. We got to meet the cast and like have dinner with them and stuff.”  Prior the the performance, the students practiced in their orchestra class in addition to four rehearsals with the cast.  They learned and played in five of the Beatles’ classic hits, including, “Hey Jude”, and “Hello Goodbye”.

“I don’t think it was stressful at all.  It was a really good experience.” said Baggett.

Kareemah Thomas, 9th, said “Going backstage and meeting everyone was fun. Their singing was really awesome. It was a great opportunity to perform there at the Sheldon.”

Thomas said that the experienced has helped her grow as a performer. “I [learned] to follow the singers and listen to each other. I would definitely want to do it again.”

These four students are an example of how the orchestra department is working to teach and prepare students to be able to perform outside of school in addition to inside the classroom.  Through this performance, students were able to get a taste of what it felt like to work in a professional environment. Baggett and Thomas both agreed that in addition to being a great learning experience, they also had a lot of fun.