Every year in late November, selected students from orchestra participate in the All Region Orchestra clinic. Held over a span of three days, the orchestra students get the opportunity to work with players from all around the region and to make music with superb conductors. This year, a majority of the All Region orchestra was dominated by the orchestra students and performed under the conducting of Rice music professor, Michael Webster.

    There were three days to prepare for the All Region concert; on the first day, Nov. 17, the students were separated into sectionals, mini rehearsals with just the members of the same instrument. The second day, Nov. 18, was when the sections come together and performed as one, big orchestra under the Mr. Webster. On this day, students learned to mesh their parts with that of other instruments, and to hear how the song sounded as an entirety. As for the final day, Nov. 19, the students not only spent almost their entire day rehearsing, but also performed for the audience only hours after their final rehearsal, leaving most students exhausted.

    “The whole all-region experience was quite exhilarating, from day one with sectionals, to putting it together with all the instruments, to our grand performance,” Daniel Deng ‘18 said. “The process was very exhausting but the result was definitely worth it, because my thirst was quenched like drinking Sprite.”

    The All Region Orchestra performed Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev, a long piece of repertoire that is both beautifully lyrical and strangely dissonant at the same time. Though the piece is often performed by professional and more advanced orchestras, the students found the song to be a challenge that could be overcome by much practice.

    “Performing Romeo and Juliet was inspiring because of how each section of the orchestra came together to tell a beautiful story,” Janice Oh ‘19 said. “It was hard to stay awake during the rehearsals since I was sick, but having my friends around me kept me motivated to keep playing.”

    A week before the All Region clinic, the official All State Orchestra results were announced. 15 students from Westwood had qualified to attend the All State event in February at San Antonio, a fairly high number in comparison to that of other schools. Unlike All Region, All State is held for five days, and students get to collaborate with students from all around Texas, an opportunity of a lifetime.

    “All State is really fun to be surrounded with so many dedicated and talented musicians,” Lillian Young ‘18 said, “All State gathers the best of the best and drops them together into one fabulous section, so being in All State brings me pure joy to just be engulfed in such a massively talented bass section. ”