Coronado’s Chamber Orchestra is competing in the Colorado ASTA Festival in March. In preparation, Ms. West, the orchestra conductor, has been inviting special guests to help the group improve its performance. These guests have included prominent members of the Colorado Springs professional music community, such as Thomas Wilson, Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, and Colorado Springs Philharmonic’s new Music Director, Chloe Dufresne.

Other recent guests have included Brian Krinke and Jason Pegis, professors from CMU. They spoke about music education opportunities and performed a fun duet before helping the ensemble with their competition piece. They focused on bowing techniques, helping to fine-tune the piece’s tone for clarity and precision. Bowing technique is the way the bow is moved across the strings on a stringed instrument. It can significantly influence how a song sounds. The guests taught which bowstrokes to use for different parts of the music to help the performance sound professional and interesting.

The most recent visitor, Thomas Wilson, shared insight about his conducting career. He explained that the first step he took towards becoming a conductor was to become a good performer, and only then was he invited to conduct ensembles. He wasn’t interested in becoming a conductor when he started his music career, but now it’s his job. After listening to the group perform their piece, he worked with them to improve confidence in more difficult sections. He also discussed the tone of the piece and his thoughts on it. Improved confidence made the passages sound smoother and cleaner, and his insight about his career helped students to see potential future paths in music.

Not only have the students learned from the experience, but the teacher has too. When asked what she has taken from this experience, Ms. West explained that she’s learned she can “demand more accuracy” from her students if she pushes for it. She believes these experiences are important for students because it gives them a fresh experience.

Many of her students have been in her class since middle school, so she thinks it’s good for them, especially because it gives them “experience working with someone who works with professionals.” Playing with someone who conducts professional musicians for a living gives students a taste of what it would be like to rehearse and perform in a professional environment. Mateo Maldonado, a senior in chamber orchestra, agreed that the guests added “novelty” to the class, keeping everyone interested and engaged with new perspectives and suggestions.

Heading into the end of February, the ensemble will continue to prepare for their competition in early March and welcome more guests, including Michael BiBarry, UCCS’s Assistant Teaching Professor of Strings Music.