Posted: Friday, June 6, 2008 12:00 am
Seniors will perform at graduation ceremony on Monday night
By Carol Reeves
Gazette-Times reporter
Sunithi Hindagolla will be one of many seniors performing for the last time Monday night with the orchestra and choir at Crescent Valley High School's graduation.
And it will surely be a bittersweet experience. Playing violin in the orchestra has been a big part of her high-school career.
"It was the first class I went to as a freshman where I felt comfortable. That's because I had been playing with the same people since middle school," Hindagolla said.
Steven Stark said he felt the same way about playing the saxophone and singing in the choir.
"It's like everything I do here. It's the thing we feel most attached to," he said, to nods of agreement from a handful of other senior musicians gathered in the orchestra room Thursday morning.
The group of seniors who have participated in the music program at Crescent Valley over the years was a large factor in the recent successes of the choir, orchestra and band in this year's state competitions. The school's concert choir placed third in the 5A division championships held May 2 at George Fox University in Newberg. The Camerata Orchestra finished second among 5A and 6A string orchestras and the Wind Ensemble Band took second in the 5A band division at their respective contests May 6-9 at the LaSells Stewart Center at Oregon State University.
The Class of 2008 is the first to experience a top-three finish in all three categories.
"The competitions make it all worth it - going through all that much time and effort," said Katie Simon, an alto in the choir and a clarinetist in the band.
The students said the competition can be intense. It's a lot like what sports teams experience with rivalries between certain schools and the good-natured trash-talking that goes on, they explained.
"You're working so hard to get the music so perfect and you're competing against choirs from all over the state that have the same goal," said Nathan Egan, a baritone and trumpet player. "It's really uplifting and inspiring when you do really well and it sounds good."
Last year's choir finished in sixth place at the state contest. So when this year's singers placed third, including a first-place finish in the sight-reading portion of the competition, and the band and orchestra did well, it was a climactic finish for the senior class. Many of them have sung and played music together since middle school.
The seniors were great leaders in the program's growth over the past year, said band director Kristine Janes.
"Their experience and dedication to always strive for excellence was present throughout the rehearsals as well as in performances," she said.
According to orchestra director Charles Creighton, the time and energy that upper level musicians put into the program is comparable to athletes on the school's sports teams. The jazz band meets at 6:55 a.m. every day before school and music students are also expected to practice outside of class. Each group performs several concerts a year and the marching and pep bands play during many of the football and basketball games throughout the year.
"It takes a lot of time and hard work," said Egan, who plans to major in music education at Brigham Young University.
"But it's really rewarding too," he continued. "I want to become a music educator because of my high school experience. I had a really good time and I want other students to experience the same thing."
All the seniors agreed incoming freshmen should check out the music program at Crescent Valley and not be afraid to try out for the band, orchestra or choir.
"I would definitely encourage them to try out," said Genna Watkins, a flute player who decided to begin playing the bass for the jazz band just this year.
Stark said that he started singing in the shower as "a little kid" but he didn't join the choir until he was a senior.
"People can always achieve more than they think they can," Egan said.
"Yeah, there was a girl in orchestra who started playing violin as a freshman and now she's one of the best violins in the section," Hindagolla added.