By: Margo Moore
In the upcoming CODA (California Orchestra Directors Association) concert, high school musicians from all over California who have competed to get a spot will be performing music together. “We’re usually there for one or two days and we rehearse the music we’ve been given and then we have a concert,” says Sophia Caballes, ’26, who plays the cello.
“There’s actually two groups for CODA: there’s CODA strings and CODA symphony,” she continues.
“They have different music for both auditions so I had to practice quite a lot since I was doing both, and I was aiming to get into symphony, but it’s pretty hard to get into. So I practice a lot but I would say maybe five hours a week, which is actually on the lower spectrum in comparison to other people.”
“CODA competition is kind of intense,” says violinist Rose Candelaria, ’23, who applied for both strings and symphony. “I got accepted into the symphony and that’s like, big guns, pretty difficult to get in there.
“It takes a lot of work and the music is pretty difficult but, once we get there, we have like an entire day of like eight hours of practice and we get to go on a campus tour. It’s really fun,” she says.
Candelaria has been in CODA for three years now, and has been participating in similar competitions for an astounding six years.
As for practice habits, she says “practice habits are not as good as they should be, but I try my best to practice every single day…I think that if you practice every day, it doesn’t matter how long you do it as long as you have a quality practice.”
Candelaria says “it feels pretty good because I’m being able to represent our orchestra here and I know that especially in the valley it can be hard to be represented so I think that it’s a perfect opportunity to both be exposed to and help give exposure to our own kids here.”
Violinist Tyler Tomooka, ’23, describes his practice habits as “unhealthy.
“Let’s see…usually I’ll like to practice in the weeks leading up to it. If I drag it out for a long time it’ll probably be better, but, just I prefer to spend my time on other things.” He practices “efficiently while getting the most done for the least amount of effort. So I’ll practice with a metronome, I’ll practice slowly at first, and I’ll try to have the discipline to practice efficiently.
“Going in I was kind of excited, but then, playing for nine hours straight, no. Exhausted my feelings about it. If there’s something you can quote, though, it is an honor to be in it and I’m glad to represent Redwood,” Tomooka says.
Margo Moore
Margo, 25', is a sophomore at Redwood High School and a second-year journalism student who works as an arts and entertainment writer for the Redwood Gigantea. She also loves to take photos and publish photogalleries. You can reach her at @margo.mo3574@vusd.us
Tags: music, orchestra, orchestra concert, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism