The orchestra teamed up with some of the band members to form the SHS Symphony Orchestra for their concert on Oct. 20. Together, they performed the piece “The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers.” 

Orchestra director Amy Eichers was excited to conduct for the larger group to give an experience more aligned with what they might find in a professional orchestra.

“In the professional world, it’s not separated into band and orchestra,” Eichers said.

This year the advanced orchestra and band were moved to separate hours, which has made it more difficult to get everyone together to rehearse. 

“[They’re] almost like professionals coming in,” Eichers said. “Normally when we’re preparing for a concert, the students that are in orchestra have been playing that piece probably every other day for four weeks. And then [the band members] come in and it’s like, we got to go and learn it in three, four rehearsals. And then it’s the concert.”

This process only makes the experience closer to what they would have in something like the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra.

 “That’s what I have to do for symphony. I have to learn my music and then we get five rehearsals, four rehearsals and then the concert,” Eichers said. 

Senior trombonist Hugo Wittkopf is one of the members who enjoys playing with the orchestra for many different reasons.

“I like getting to play with new people outside of band and getting to play new kinds of music,” Wittkopf said. “It takes a different approach to play orchestra music.” 

Eichers is looking forward to playing more combined pieces in the future as she begins preparations for their winter concert. 

“I’m really excited because when I found out at the end of last year that our classes weren’t meeting at the same hours, I was thinking that the possibility of doing symphony orchestra music might be done,” Eichers said. “I’m really glad I was able to get enough students that were interested in doing it.”