2018 National Orchestra Festival

During my senior year in Moanalua High School, the MoHS Symphony had the honor and blessings to travel to the National Orchestra Festival back in Spring of 2018. This event is in conjunction with the American String Teacher’s Association (ASTA) National Conference. Overall, this was the perfect opportunity for me and my peers to expose ourselves to the music industry by making connections with other orchestra groups from all over the mainland, attend various vendors at the conference, and receive valuable feedback on our performance from notable clinicians. Our symphony performed four pieces of intense repertoire at the last day of the festial. During the award ceremony, we were astounded to receive first place under the high school division, as well as the Grand Champion award.

However, this journey to success was not an easy task. I was a second chair 1st violin at the time so I was one of the leaders for my section alongside my stand partner. This meant that we had the responsibilities of guiding our violin section to blend together as a cohesive team. Leadership did not come easy for an introvert like me, but I knew I was capable to learn and grow as a leader if our orchestra director trusted me to be in the front. I did the best I could to direct the group in our small sectionals like listening and pointing out if we sound out of tune in one part of music, or if we’re not playing together in time with a piece. Although I let my stand partner do most of the talking because of my shy nature, my advice helped the group as I was able to hear little intricacies in our sound and fix them to further enhance our quality in music. All of our hard work paid off in the end as we were able to work as a team and strive to perform our best as an ensemble.