Music teacher Moises Fagundes conducts the string orchestra for the first time in the orchestra, jazz band, and choir concert in the theater.
By: Vivian Tsang
The biggest change to the MHS Music Department is the addition of two new music directors, according to Music Director Emily Moore. The logistics of reorganizing the Music Department at the start of the school year was time consuming, but encountered no major complications, Moore added.
There are goals to expand the department, including the addition of enough wind and percussion instruments to have a Symphony Orchestra by December, Moore said. It is possible to have a Symphony Orchestra this year, because the department has more help, Moore continued.
“We have two new directors. We have Mr. Lowe who teaches Jazz Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Symphony, and Percussion, and Mr. Fagundes who does the Symphonic Winds and the String Orchestra,” Moore said. “[Organizing a symphony orchestra] is just a lot of work. It is going to require after school rehearsals for the winds and percussion.”
The directors have been more strict on the band, Sophomore Justin Tran said.
“[The directors] have been pushing us harder,” Tran said. “Every time we make a mistake, we have to do ten push-ups or something like that. It’s really helped us out as like, you know, individually and as a marching band again.”
While the marching band is on a good upward trend, progress depends on the work done by the participants, Junior Jarvis Nguyen said. He noted that individual effort and student engagement has gone down from last year, Jarvis Nguyen said.
“Adding in a new teacher doesn’t change everything,” Jarvis Nguyen said. “I think the student engagement had gone down significantly and so things aren’t going as well as they could be. It’s just [each student’s] personality.”
The addition of two new teachers is helping the music program grow, Senior Tommy Nguyen said. He does not believe that former Music Director Christopher Kaldy’s absence necessarily caused any changes in the music program’s morale, Tommy Nguyen added.
“It’s surreal to think that only happened about a year ago,” Tommy Nguyen said. “It’s a bit odd that no one’s talking about or addressing it at all. Maybe that’s for the better.”
Students prepare for concerts by taking their instrument home and practicing on their spare time, Tran said. The directors encourage the students to practice almost everyday, he added,
“It’s all about individual parts. [The directors] pick out individual parts and like our music and then we have to work on it,” Tran said. “Basically it’s just a mixture of like a director’s helping us out at pointing out what we need to work on and it’s individual effort on musicianship.”
All four of the bands are expected to have concerts in December and at the end of February, Moore said. There will also be a field trip to Stockton in March for a band-and-orchestra festival. Along with a choir festival in Gilroy and a jazz band performance at Santa Cruz, there will also be several end-of-the year concerts, Moore said.