By: Madison Navarrette
On May 7, 2019, Redwood’s orchestras had their annual taco dinner concert, where families can come together and eat tacos, then enjoy a concert. This concert includes the Green Acres intermediate and advanced orchestras, followed by Redwood, each under the direction of Mr. Yokota. With only a little more than a month to learn the music, and last minute changes, each student had to learn the music fast and efficiently. In the end, everyone played to the best of their abilities and put on a great show.
Samantha Thomas, ’21, a violinist in chamber orchestra, says that “I think going into this concert I think we all were nervous since we had such limited time to prepare our pieces. I think that in the end we pulled through and everyone played to the best of their abilities.”
Kira Navarro, ’20, a violinist in the advanced orchestra, adds onto Thomas’ statement by saying that ” I think there might have been a few mistakes but other than that I think we all did our best, and we’re all ready to start learning music for our next concert.”
This was also the concert all the seniors are recognized for all the hard work and dedication they have put into orchestra throughout the years. This year, there are 30 seniors graduating this year, leaving many open spots in the advanced and chamber orchestras.
Although they are opening up opportunities for other students, they are still part of the orchestra family and will be dearly missed by their fellow Rangers. At the concert, Mr. Yokota said that “I have been teaching some of these students for eight years when I used to teach elementary, so it will be sad to see some of them go.” Yokota then proceeded to call out each name and hand them a certificate for all their hard work.
Molly Collins, ’19, a violist in the advanced orchestra, states that “It’s sad to think that I won’t be playing with these people next year, but i’m excited to move on and for the orchestra to move on.”
Although we’re losing some big names in the orchestra it’s exciting to think of what they will accomplish, and we can’t help but give our support as fellow Rangers.
Tags: bass, instruments, orchestra, orchestra concert, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood music, redwoodorchestra, rhs orchestra, spring, spring concert, viola, violin