The end of the summer brought back a familiar feeling for many orchestra students, dusting off the instruments and tightening the bows. For music students, heading back to school symbolized the start of another year of learning new skills, developing techniques, and preparing for a plethora of musical events. But there’s a big difference this year in the Orchestra Room — the sheer number of students.

“I think that the orchestra expanding is great,” said senior violinist Eshani Chauk. “I like that so many more kids are learning and enjoying violin, viola, cello, or bass.” 

The district-wide string program boasted over 1,700 people in prior years but now has expanded. Over 400 students are enrolled in orchestra classes at the high school level alone, and the middle school and elementary programs are thriving. The addition of students prompted the appointment of another teacher, Mrs. McGuire at NAI.  McGuire joins high school orchestra director Mrs. Lavelle and Mrs. Donato as the backbone of the successful high school program. This has led to the incorporation of more string orchestra classes in addition to bigger chamber orchestra class sizes.

“We had to hire more teachers because of the program’s growth,” said Music Department Chair Bob Tozier.  “Marshall Middle School’s program is especially huge right now.  It’s a challenge, but it’s a good problem to have.”

Emily Vaiz is not especially surprised by the program’s growth.  “Orchestra is an enriching class that has a lot to offer,” the senior violinist said.

Lavelle in particular is thrilled about the expansion. “It’s wonderful to see so many students enjoying orchestra and seeing so many students participating and performing together,” said the NASH Orchestra Director, recalling the program having only 187 players when she began teaching in 2006. 

One of the defining characteristics of the high school program is participation in the Golden Strolling Strings, a long-standing tradition started by Mrs. Christine Loverti in 1988. The group, consisting of all members of the high school orchestras, perform throughout the community at events, gatherings, parties, and dinners. Students stroll around the venue in lines while they play familiar tunes from a variety of genres, such as classical, folk, seasonal, and dance music. String students are divided into groups and rotate throughout assigned events. Usually, there are four groups of about a hundred students each. 

However, this year, Lavelle plans to experiment with smaller groups to accommodate the growing orchestra size. This means that students will perform at fewer events than years prior and be less crammed.

” [The group] has always had four strolling groups and over the years as the orchestra has grown, which just means the strolling groups get bigger and bigger,” Lavelle said. “If we have a hundred kids in a strolling group, that means that if we go to an event, we’re taking a hundred kids minimum every time.  So by having more groups, the idea is to make a smaller time commitment for everyone but also make the groups a little smaller to fit in all venues“. 

Another well known fact about the musical programs are the trips involved. This year, the orchestra will embark on a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Trips consist of educational experiences like workshops along with fun visiting tourist sites. The Disney trip is always something students look forward to, especially since it is quadrennial.

“I’m very excited for the Orchestra trip this year,” senior violinist Jackson Alexander said.  “I’ve been waiting since freshman year to go on this trip.”

Although the strings program is constantly increasing in size, the overall values and goals stay the same.

“Every year, I most look forward to getting to know my students, doing our daily rehearsals, and working through our challenges and watching kids overcome them,” Lavelle said.