The orchestra in New Providence High School is very passionate about music. 

They have a concert during the winter and one in the spring that they prepare for throughout the year, not including the optional performance they have in Disney World Florida. 

Sometimes a group of students from the orchestra will sample pieces of music in classes before a concert. I watched them practice in December and enjoyed how smoothly they can play together. I have periodically stopped by to see them play and the progression from the beginning of the year to now is incredible. They have learned all different types of music with different melodies and they can harmonize so smoothly. This is typically a skill that is acquired over time. 

Mr.Rubens is the orchestra teacher for both the middle and high school. He has been working in New Providence since the fall of 2019. He loves to work with music and teach kids new material.

His orchestra class meets regularly almost every day for an hour, in addition, students attend private lessons. Preparing for concerts is a major focus of  the orchestra. The more time they get to practice, the better.

“So we’re lucky that we get to meet so regularly and for an hour, but we start the pieces many months in advance and go slowly taking sometimes just one second to two seconds worth of music and isolating it and building it up over time. So we have a long period to work on a lot of music, but we go slowly through a lot of that because it gets very in depth and complex. So we go slowly over time,” said Rubens.

Sam Clerihue, a senior who has played the violin for 8 years loves being part of the orchestra. 

He said:  “I definitely like being part of the orchestra. It’s fun to play music. I love the violin.”

He acknowledges that the hard work of learning complex music “can get tedious at times.” 

Sometimes he wishes they could switch it up because they practice the same music for a while, but it’s worth the pay off. 

Mr. Rubens thinks that anyone can pick up on an instrument and shouldn’t be scared to do so:  “I would tell them to come and try the instruments slowly and individually and and get experienced with them.”

Learning new skills and new techniques is a way for each musician to develop individually and as a group.

Senior Alison Leon Garcia, who started playing the cello this year spontaneously joined orchestra a few months ago and doesn’t regret her decision. 

“I love being a part of the orchestra. It’s a way of bringing every instrumental piece together.  And I love the connections that people are making in the room,” she said. 

Elizabeth Bigham, a sophomore who plays the cello states how she has learned new skills this year:  “One thing that I learned a lot about  is shifting, which is basically like going from the original position on the cello like down the neck to play higher notes.” 

Brandon Le, a junior who plays violin, loves playing solos:  “I feel like I can specialize better and set up a background for whoever has a melody.”

Nathaniel Kwok, a sophomore who plays cello, enjoys working as a group and helping his colleagues out:  “I have friends who I have shown how to play. I enjoy playing with a team. Teamwork is good.” 

There’s also a swing and string club after school on Wednesday from six to seven. They play different music and have a little more freedom in playing music they like.