Anthony Murray and Kendra Hale will be the first Armstrong School District instrumentalists to perform at a district orchestra festival in more than a dozen years.
by Jonathan Weaver
Whether it’s near the edge of the county or the corner of the state, nearly a dozen Armstrong Junior/Senior High instrumentalists will be showcasing their musical talents in other cities next week.
About 20 students will attend the Armstrong County Band Festival at Freeport High School Tuesday & Wednesday.
After that, however, Senior Kendra Hale and Sophomore Anthony Murray won’t take a school van back to their home school, but to Meadville High School for the PMEA District Orchestra Festival January 14-16.
Band Director Jason Venesky said Hale and Murray, both of Kittanning, are the first Armstrong School District students to attend an orchestra event maybe since 2000.
“There hasn’t been anybody from Kittanning High School nor Ford City go to a District orchestra festival in a long time,” Venesky said.
“Now that we have a bigger school, I thought since we have a lot more students in one pool, it would be a nice opportunity to showcase our talents and give some of our best students that opportunity. It’s a whole different sound scape, so I’m excited for them to sit down with a string orchestra and feel that, hear that and be a part of that.”
And, Venesky said he chose two very ‘capable’ student musicians.
Hale has played the bassoon for the past five years and was the band drum major this past Fall for marching season. She also can play the piccolo or flute.
“I don’t think it’s hard to play, but other people might because it has a lot of keys compared to other instruments,” Hale said. “It just depends what you think is harder – keys or intonation.”
“I like playing this instrument more than I like playing flute because I like the parts (the bassoon) gets more than the flute melodic parts.”
Hale has been to Region Band twice and also qualified for State band last year, but has never heard an orchestra live.
“It’s different from band music, because (in an orchestra) every instrument plays something different,” Hale said.
“Every note counts when you play in an orchestra,” Venesky added.
While Murray hasn’t been to a District or Regional event (students have to be at least a sophomore to qualify), he expected next week to be a fun challenge.
French horn has been Murray’s main instrument for seven years.
“I loved the sound of it when I was in elementary school. The rest of my family played mostly brass instruments, and either trombone or French horn were the one’s nobody else played so I wanted to pick one of those,” Murray said.
But, that won’t stop him from trying to get better.
“There are millions of people that I look up to and wish I could play as well as they could – people from the Pittsburgh Symphony to people from 100 years ago,” Murray said. “It takes a lot of practice.
“I just want to get a lot better - learn more techniques and play styles. Get a better understanding of it so I can further my knowledge of the instrument.”
Though it is his first district ensemble, Murray got some helpful tips from his sister, Elizabeth – who qualified for District and Regional Band as an oboist. Elizabeth now attends Indiana University of Pennsylvania to further her study of percussion instruments.
About 35 schools will be represented in the orchestra, led by Jason Seber from the Louisville Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Armstrong School District currently does not have a string program