You might be a fan of the television show Glee and/or watched High School Musical with your kids, but how many of you were members of your high school orchestra? Yes, I said 'orchestra', and by orchestra I mean the red headed step child of most school musical programs. How many of you played a stringed instrument (guitars don't count - I'm talking about instruments that were played with bows) the majority of your school career and were rewarded with complete anonymity because you never marched during half time or had your face and voice star in the school play? Well, obviously, from the picture above, I was a member of the Piscataway High School orchestra and I'll have you know I played both the violin and viola during my tenure there. Thanks to my dad the PHS orchestra took one of its first step out of anonymity when I became the first and only member of the orchestra in the early 1980s to have a stadium jacket proclaiming my membership! Truth be told, I was more than a little embarrassed at the time but since it was the warmest coat I owned and I had to walk between the old and new buildings of the high school to attend my classes it saw its use and wear during my high school years. And probably due the huge number of Piscataway Superchiefs (band members) sporting coats for the drum line or the flag team, my coat stayed relatively obscure.I dug my coat out of storage last week in anticipation of this evening. I'll be singing with the PHS Concert Choir in rehearsal for the upcoming Winter Holiday Concert this Friday. This year, the choir will be resurrecting the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. One of my high school classmates, Bill Wallace, was dismayed to attend his daughter's choir concerts the past three years at our alma mater and not be invited to come sing the Hallelujah Chorus as an alumnus. It was standard fare back in the day (and up until recent years) that alumni would be invited to come participate in a few traditional numbers. I say alumni could participate because orchestra AND choir members returned to the stage to perform a few select carols and the Hallelujah Chorus. It seems the change in program occurred a few years back when the concert stretched to more than 2.5 hours long and it was decided to create multiple winter concerts for the wide variety of musical talent at PHS which now boasts two orchestras! (I am just curious to know how many of them have stadium jackets!?!) And somewhere in the split, the Hallelujah Chorus disappeared from the program.
So, after last year's concert, Bill launched a campaign to garner support from alumni to bring back the Hallelujah Chorus. While I support his endeavor, I am not totally shocked Bill and many of my CC (Concert Choir) classmates don't remember that after the orchestra had preformed its bit for the evening, we waited in the room adjoining the stage so our instruments could stay somewhat warm and in tune for the final numbers of the concert. Then, soon after the CC began their performance on risers in front of the stage, we orchestra members had to creep silently and carefully back onto the stage in the dark with our instruments and music in hand so we could be seated and in place for when the alumni received their invitation to come down front to join in the program. At that point, the curtain parted to reveal the orchestra on stage and the choir did a little shuffle to accommodate arriving alumni and allow a space so the choir director (Mr. Murphy during my first years of high school and Miss Collins my final years) could see Mr. Bradshaw, the orchestra director who was the one who brought us into position so we could be the string accompaniment to a selection of carols and the Hallelujah Chorus. Little wonder that even the high school orchestra alumni members went unnoticed - if we attended the concert and planned to preform, we had to report to the same backstage area as students, tune our instruments and creep onto stage with the rest of the orchestra as well. No fanfare for returning alumni in the orchestra, just low key tune-ups and the grateful thanks of Mr. Bradshaw and Mrs. Ish (the string coordinator for the middle and elementary schools) for keeping our fingers nimble and ready to play.
Tonight I'm wearing my high school orchestra jacket this evening to 'represent' the orchestra of my youth. I won't be playing my violin though. Even though the fingers of my left hand automatically start bouncing when I hear the first strains of the Hallelujah Chorus, my instrument hasn't seen the light of day since before I attended seminary. And it was the mid 1980s the last time I actually played the Hallelujah Chorus on a stringed instrument. But over the last fifteen years, I've participated in a variety of Messiah concerts and am very familiar with the alto part of the Hallelujah Chorus. Seems that's granted me 'special dispensation' from the present choral director to come sing with other alumni members at rehearsal for this weekend's concert. No saying how much attention the coat will garner since I don't plan to actually wear it while I sing, but I'll know its there and that little part of my violin/viola playing heart will be playing in perfect tune and tempo with the golden haired children of the Concert Choir.
So, after last year's concert, Bill launched a campaign to garner support from alumni to bring back the Hallelujah Chorus. While I support his endeavor, I am not totally shocked Bill and many of my CC (Concert Choir) classmates don't remember that after the orchestra had preformed its bit for the evening, we waited in the room adjoining the stage so our instruments could stay somewhat warm and in tune for the final numbers of the concert. Then, soon after the CC began their performance on risers in front of the stage, we orchestra members had to creep silently and carefully back onto the stage in the dark with our instruments and music in hand so we could be seated and in place for when the alumni received their invitation to come down front to join in the program. At that point, the curtain parted to reveal the orchestra on stage and the choir did a little shuffle to accommodate arriving alumni and allow a space so the choir director (Mr. Murphy during my first years of high school and Miss Collins my final years) could see Mr. Bradshaw, the orchestra director who was the one who brought us into position so we could be the string accompaniment to a selection of carols and the Hallelujah Chorus. Little wonder that even the high school orchestra alumni members went unnoticed - if we attended the concert and planned to preform, we had to report to the same backstage area as students, tune our instruments and creep onto stage with the rest of the orchestra as well. No fanfare for returning alumni in the orchestra, just low key tune-ups and the grateful thanks of Mr. Bradshaw and Mrs. Ish (the string coordinator for the middle and elementary schools) for keeping our fingers nimble and ready to play.
Tonight I'm wearing my high school orchestra jacket this evening to 'represent' the orchestra of my youth. I won't be playing my violin though. Even though the fingers of my left hand automatically start bouncing when I hear the first strains of the Hallelujah Chorus, my instrument hasn't seen the light of day since before I attended seminary. And it was the mid 1980s the last time I actually played the Hallelujah Chorus on a stringed instrument. But over the last fifteen years, I've participated in a variety of Messiah concerts and am very familiar with the alto part of the Hallelujah Chorus. Seems that's granted me 'special dispensation' from the present choral director to come sing with other alumni members at rehearsal for this weekend's concert. No saying how much attention the coat will garner since I don't plan to actually wear it while I sing, but I'll know its there and that little part of my violin/viola playing heart will be playing in perfect tune and tempo with the golden haired children of the Concert Choir.
* Thanks to Mr. Moffitt's Latin class (and a little brush up in classical languages during seminary) I know the proper declensions of alumnus, alumni, aluma and alumnae.
1 comment:
we didn't have an orchestra-- but i played flute in the concert band and marching band 9th through 11th grade, and sang in the choir senior year. and i still have my band jacket somewhere, though they weren't as nice as yours. =)
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