The crowd silences as the students begin to tune their instruments for their Halloween themed concert. The director, Wayne Thelander, walks on stage where the crowd welcomes him with applause. The Concert String Orchestra, made up of only freshman, begins their first song, Saison de Cordes. The violins, violas, cellos, and basses make up fast pace but spooky chords that filled Iowa City West High’s auditorium.
Their next song was called Dancing Spiders. The dynamics, chords, and rhythm resembles many tiny spiders scurrying around. The song ended with a loud clap that captivated the audience. Their final song was called The Evil Eye and the Hideous Heart which was a bizarre story of a man who had a deformity in his eye, he then murders a man and chops him up to many pieces. This song portrayed his evil eye and the dead mans hear beating slowly under the floor board. Because this song had suspenseful, slow low notes it left the crowd speechless and wanting more. As the Concert String Orchestra comes to an end the students stood up and the director bows as a loud applause comes from the audience.
Seventy two noisy sophomores, juniors, and seniors, part of the Symphony String Orchestra, crowd the stage and await their first performance of the year by tuning their instruments and chatting with fellow musicians. As soon as the lights brighten and Bryn Hedlund ‘12 enters the stage they begin to settle down and prepare for their performance. Mr. Thelander then comes on to the stage and they begin their first song, October. The song gives the feeling of driving around in the fall watching the leaves change and feeling the cool breeze hit your cheeks. The song begins with wind chimes which sets the relaxing mood for the song.
Then they play Pumpkin- Eaters little Fugue which is a fast paced, light uplifting song. Their next song is The Legend of Sleepy Hallow. This song was inspired by W. Irving’s story about a new man who comes into the neighborhood and as he attends a dance find out about the ghost who is occupying this town. Fast and spooky sounds come from the Orchestra. They then begin to snicker and smile as the next song, Transylvanian Tango begins which is a fast, upbeat song.
The last song this orchestra plays is called Adagio. This song has often been associated with grief, mourning, and dealing with losses. The orchestra decided to dedicate this to Caroline Found and Raymone Bryant. Mr. Thelander also wanted to dedicate this to Charles Went, a professor at the U of I who also has taught some students from West, that passed away this summer. This song created stillness and silence through the auditorium. It made an impact on all of us. The song then came to a close and the crowd applauded the orchestra as they all bowed.
