By: Annika Blackburn
On Tuesday, October 7 the Jefferson Annual Fall Orchestra Concert took place at Centennial High School. Ms. Tsou, Jefferson’s string teacher, both directed and planned this event. Sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade strings students all performed in the concert with friends, family, and other members of our community watching. Violins, violas, cellos, and bases all rang out confidently in Centennial’s large auditorium on this night.
This is Ms. Tsou’s first year teaching strings at Jefferson and she did a fantastic job organizing the first concert of the year. She selected all of the music for the event and also helped students prepare accordingly. Tying in the concert music with the class curriculum was also a very effective teaching strategy that she used. In my opinion, she has been doing an amazing job teaching strings at Jefferson.
When asked about how the concert went she responded, “The first orchestra concert of the year was a success! The Jefferson Middle School orchestras and Centennial High School orchestras worked diligently for the last two months toward our big debut, and gave the best performance of all our rehearsals…every student and audience member was able to connect with and enjoy any of the pieces performed at our concert,”.
Ms. Tsou also says, “Our next orchestra concert will be on December 9th and 10th. Since it is around the holiday season, we will play some holiday-themed pieces, while still including a variety of genres for more people to appreciate. So save the date, and come enjoy another round of awesome music brought to you by your fellow orchestra students!”
Ms. Tsou was also asked about how it felt to direct her first concert and she responded, “The process was quite daunting at first since it required a lot of coordinating and some public speaking (yes, even teachers get nervous!). However, I left that night feeling very thankful for all the support from families and teachers, and for our students’ hard work. I’m so honored to be a part of this community and excited for more concerts to come!”
An example of a song that Ms. Tsou selected for the sixth-grade ensemble to play is “Coronation Scene” by George Best. Some sixth-grade strings students have just started learning how to play their instruments while some have practiced seriously for over a year. It was a challenge for Ms. Tsou to select a song that would fit everyone’s unique skill level, but she sure did deliver. The sixth graders performed the song beautifully as well as many other songs that they learned from their Essential Elements Book.
The sixth graders began their performance with songs played through pizzicato and gradually made their way up to more difficult, complex songs with tricky rhythms. Pizzicato is a method of play where the musician “plucks” each string with their index finger rather than using their bow to play, it is generally a beginner’s method that is used when first learning a song.
The seventh graders also performed a very special piece called “Petite Tango” by C.B. Kriechbaum Jr. The seventh graders learned about tango music in class, so Ms. Tsou decided to make a tango one of their concert pieces. The seventh graders were able to display their developed knowledge of rhythm, intonation, and mastery of difficult passages through this song. They also performed “Scarborough Fair” by Brian Balmages and “Nightrider” by Richard Meyer.
The final group to perform for this concert was the eighth-grade ensemble. They studied Mozart in class, so they played a song written by him as their opening piece. The piece is called “Symphony No. 17 in G Major” arranged by Campbell. The second piece that was played by the eighth-grade ensemble was called “An English Folksong” arranged by Terry McQuilken. The final piece of this concert was “Black Sea” by Gary Gackstatter. The eighth-graders were able to show their knowledge of contemporary music through this piece. Contemporary music is often hyper-modern and includes strange rhythms.
Along with Ms. Tsou there were many generous people in Centennial’s auditorium on the night of the concert. There was a shortage of cellists in the seventh-grade ensemble, but luckily six eighth grade cellists were willing to step in to remedy the problem. The volunteering cellists had to practice three additional songs at home and had to work during lunch with the single seventh-grader. Their generous spirits saved both the seventh-grader from being overpowered by the abundance of violinists and Ms. Tsou’s nerves. Four members of the Centennial High School Chamber Orchestra also gave a helping hand. Since there were so few base players, viola players, and violinists performing in the eighth-grade ensemble, these high school students volunteered to come and add more dimension to all three pieces. Both the eighth-graders and high schoolers did their part to improve the concert.
Jefferson and Centennial custodial staff also did their part to make sure that everything was in tip-top shape the night of the performance. Administrative staff also made everything run smoothly both before and during the concert. Many other performing arts teachers from the Champaign Unit 4 district also came by to supervise students and assist Ms. Tsou on the evening of the concert. The night ran smoothly and on schedule due to the cooperation of students and with the support of school staff.
To conclude, Jefferson’s Fall Orchestra Concert was a success due to all of the hard work that was put in from many different members of our community. Ms. Tsou directed beautifully, school staff ensured that everything ran smoothly, and students worked hard to support each other. Not to mention, the immense support that is consistently given by the families and friends of Jefferson Strings Students. It really is more work than you think to attend concerts, encourage practice, and offer a warm round of applause after every song that is played. If families didn’t come to watch, then there really wouldn’t be any concerts at all. So of course, this annual fall concert was both wonderful and peaceful. Ms. Tsou worked really hard on planning it and will also be directing this year’s JMS Winter Concert. Hopefully, that one will be just as good, or better than this year’s Fall Concert.