Friday, March 11, Orchestra students ventured to Plaza Middle School for their assessment. The orchestra assessment is, in essence, the equivalent to an SOL in which the students most prepare vigorously for. They learn, practice and present their pieces to the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association (VBODA).

Orchestra is graded on a 5 to 1 scale, 5 being the poorest and 1 being the best. Their pieces are in turn ranked by difficulty on a scale of 1 to 6, 1 being the easiest and 6 being the most difficult. Tallwood’s Orchestra presented 3 pieces of level 5 difficulty and scored a 2, which is “excellence.”

In response to this rating, Mrs. Adrienne Pucky, Orchestra Director, states, “I think, to be completely honest, that is one of the best performances that we’ve ever had. The students played well. They sounded good. They were confident. They listened to each other. They were good musicians.”

One of the Orchestra students corroborates Ms. Pucky’s concept of adhesion within the orchestra. Francis Sabaria, Cello, states “I legitimately thought we were good. The overall thing – the actual thing altogether was ‘meh’ in the middle of good and bad, but our stage performance I thought it was the best of what we have done.”

Like any other group of talented, hardworking individuals, Orchestra is continuously striving for the highest level of achievement possible, which is a 1 or superior. Rennae Audrey Ramos, Second violin, states, “I think we could have done better. I think we had potential to be better because if we actually practiced more – more towards the second violins – if some of us actually took the time in our day when we got home – at least 30 minutes, we could have been better and gotten superior.”

They’re determined to draw examples and apply skills sharpened from this experience.

Mrs. Pucky states, “We’re continuing to learn through the process. Literally, the students have never worked as hard for any performances. They did for that one, so it really was probably one of their best performances ever.”