Sentry Staff Reporter

On October 30, 2013, the lights will be dimmed in the auditorium and the seats will be filled. The audience will be sitting in their chairs waiting, as a group of young men and women walk on stage with their instruments in hand. This group of men and women are the string orchestra. The event is the Pops Concert.

In only one and a half weeks this concert will come to life as the orchestra plays popular music from the last couple of decades for an audience of students, friends and family. Members of the orchestra are very excited for this concert which will be their first performance of the school year. One member, freshman Rachel Cleveland, shared her thoughts about the upcoming concert.

This concert is the only opportunity for the orchestra to play popular music in one of their concerts. The members of the orchestra seem to enjoy it more than their other performances.

“I think they enjoy it more, because the Pops Concert is very relaxed and we get to play for our friends and family.”

The popular music the orchestra gets to play at the Pops Concert also seems to be a big reason the orchestra enjoys this event. This is the opportunity they get to play modern pieces of music. However the pieces played at the Pops Concert are not chosen by the orchestra members. Instead, Thomas Hartman, the conductor, decides what the pieces will be. This is also the only time modern music is played at an orchestra concert. Cleveland said if it were up to her the Pops Concert would be more than once a year saying, “I enjoy the relaxed feel of it and the pieces that we play are always interesting.”

The popular music is a nice change for the orchestra, because they play classical pieces at their other concerts. Most people would usually find one genre to be more appealing than the other, but Cleveland said, “I don’t actually have much of a preference. I like playing any type of music as long as the piece is interesting.”

Having the Pops Concert is obviously enjoyed by the orchestra. But what about the audience?

“I think the audience prefers the Pops Concert because the modern music is more intended for listeners who aren’t as knowledgeable about orchestral music, while the classical music played at other concerts would appeal to those who know more about music.”

While playing at the concert can be nerve-racking, the orchestra has prepared all year for this concert. Cleveland said the orchestra has been doing exercises in class to work on their technique, but they have mainly been rehearsing the pieces themselves.

So everyone mark your calendar for the day before Halloween. The orchestra Pops Concert and the performance of a lifetime awaits.