Jenna Bacon, Campus Carrier arts and living editor
The Berry College Symphony Orchestra performed on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, at the Bell Recital Hall. The performance included renowned musician Edvard Grieg’s incidental music for the play “Peer Gynt” and Perry Holbrook’s piece “Someday.” Twenty-six Berry students participated in the performance. The symphony orchestra consisted of eleven different kinds of instruments including violin, double bass, flute, and oboe.
A symphony orchestra is a large group of musicians that typically play instruments from four different families: winds, strings, brass and percussion. Each instrumental family is made up of several instruments that have similar methods of sound production. Symphony orchestras typically play large-scale compositions led by a conductor. The symphony orchestra gets its name from its focus on exclusively playing symphonies, which are extended musical compositions. Traditionally, a symphony has four movements or sections. Each movement serves a different purpose and creates a different listening experience for the audience.
Symphonies are not restricted to a single genre of music. They can incorporate an expansive range of musical styles. Some of the music genres typically played by symphony orchestras include romantic, modern & contemporary, and jazz. Additionally, symphony orchestras will often play film scores and opera selections. Senior music education major Sophie Prior has played the flute with the symphony orchestra for six semesters, performing a variety of musical genres during her time in the group.
“Last semester, we did a pop concert where we played the Beatles, and we did a jazz piece,” Prior said. “There’s a lot of varied repertoires out there.”
Student musicians perform “Peer Gynt” and “Someday.”
In preparation for their performance, student musicians practiced together one night a week for the whole semester leading up to the performance. During their weekly practice sessions, they worked on their dynamics, collaboration and tempo. They began by sight-reading their music and going through each piece. Sight-reading music means playing a piece of music for the first time without having practiced it beforehand. Since the musicians only practiced together one night a week, they were also strongly encouraged to practice independently. According to senior bass player Katie Alonso, the music building has classrooms that students can utilize for individual practice.
“Usually, you want to sign up to practice at a time that you know you’re always going to be there,” Alonso said. “I know there’s not a lot of people signed up for practice rooms in the afternoon, so you can always find an open practice room then.”
Alonso also says memorizing the music is the most challenging part of the preparation process. Each musician must have their music memorized so that they can take time to focus on dynamics, following the director, and following the musicians in their section. This can be challenging due to time constraints and limited practice times.
Different musicians are going to have different practice methods. However, it’s important to put in the necessary work. By ensuring they know their music, musicians can focus on keeping up with the other instruments in their section, allowing the whole preparation process to go more smoothly. Sophomore Kris Williams is very thorough when reviewing her music for the symphony.
“First, I will practice it from start to finish at a slow tempo,” Williams said. “Then, I will go back and see what parts I missed or messed up on. I just work on it in sections from there.”
The student musicians put in a lot of time, effort, and work to ensure that their performance was stellar. All of their hard work went into providing the audience with an enriching musical experience. Not only did the Berry College Symphony Orchestra entertain their audience, but they also demonstrated the range and versatility of a symphony orchestra. Don’t miss a chance to support the Berry College Music Department by attending the Berry Winds’ upcoming performance on Nov. 19.