Graphic by Zoe Nevel/The Choate News
For years, the Symphony Orchestra has earned a reputation for being a prestigious ensemble with talented musicians performing challenging repertoires. Being a member of the ensemble requires a large commitment: students rehearse three times a week, attend mandatory 70-minute private lessons weekly, and frequently practice on their own.
In previous years, one audition was used at the beginning of the Fall term to assess students’ abilities and to place them in ensembles accordingly — Symphony Orchestra being the more competitive ensemble. Students who were not ready for Symphony or preferred an ensemble with less challenging music had the opportunity to play in Wind Ensemble or String Orchestra.
The String Orchestra traditionally received less performance opportunities, such as concert tours, than Symphony Orchestra, and there was a considerable difference between the repertoire of the two groups — the pieces played in the String Orchestra were of a much less complex variety. Although the Wind Ensemble did receive similar performance opportunities as the Symphony Orchestra, it lacked a complete instrumentation and thus relied heavily on last minute substitutions from players in Symphony.
While this system seemingly accommodates musicians of all levels, it has one major flaw: it limits the participation of students who want to play music at the level of Symphony Orchestra but lack the free time to join that ensemble. Mr. Gene Wie, the Instrumental Ensembles Director, is making a change to mitigate this issue by eliminating the String Orchestra and replacing it with a new ensemble known as Concert Orchestra.
“There are students at this school who practice a ton, commit to a lesson every week, and invest their free time in practice,” said Mr. Wie. “Symphony does serve that population of students, but what we weren’t doing as well was serving a population of students who perhaps are interested in playing symphonic music, orchestral music, but also have other things going on that they don’t want to have to give up in order to have an orchestral experience. There’s a balance that has to be achieved here.”
Mr. Wie stated the creation of Concert Orchestra is an attempt to find this balance. The difference between the Symphony and Concert Orchestra is much less pronounced than before, and the main difference lies in time commitment. Weekly 70-minute lessons are not required to be a part of the group, and students rehearse only twice a week. “This season, we have a few players who qualified for Symphony, but opted to play in Concert Orchestra because the overall time commitment better suited their schedules,” said Mr. Wie.
Furthermore, in comparison to the limited number of students in String Orchestra in past years, Concert Orchestra now has a balanced instrumentation across strings and woodwinds. There are also three percussionists in Symphony who participate both in Concert Orchestra and in Wind Ensemble. Although the repertoire will still be slightly easier compared to that of Symphony Orchestra, the gap is much smaller than it was the years before.
Besides fostering similar experiences within the ensemble, Mr. Wie also plans to give both groups an equal number of concerts per year. Previously, the Symphony Orchestra was the only instrumental ensemble that went on performance tours. In the future, there will potentially be a separate orchestra for touring so that Concert Orchestra members have the opportunity to participate.
Since the implementation of these changes, Mr. Wie stated that there has been a positive impact on the students’ perception of orchestral ensembles at Choate. “I feel that the students are more willing to voice their opinions about how we’re approaching things in class,” he said. Feedback from students is another factor that will hopefully complement the new changes in creating a better and more enjoyable orchestral experience for all musicians.
