WGHS music takes on New York

Owen Crews
Sports Editor

Seniors Silas Garrett and Eli Suppelsa shop at a market in Chinatown in New York, New York. Photo by Sebastian Macaire.

Jazz band, orchestra and concert band musicians will spend this spring break playing in the Big Apple.

Senior Maddie Wood said, “It’s (orchestra) given me a broader appreciation for different types of music, and I made a lot of connections, and I had a lot of different opportunities to do with an orchestra.”
This was a sentiment shared by others that also were going.

Senior Eli Suppelsa said, “Our orchestra is a very good community. We are all pretty good friends, and it’s a tight-knit group, and when I had this opportunity to go to New York, I thought it would be really fun, and a good way to get even closer within our group.”

Junior Miles Cole said, “ It’s always a super cool experience because there’s a lot of stuff that we can’t do in the Midwest, and New York is the place to be for jazz musicians, so it is cool to see what the scene looks like, and it’s always fun to have a school trip.”

Senior Maya Ensor mentioned other opportunities, “I also think it will be fun just to have a week in New York with just the jazz band. I think we have a jazz clinic on the first day. Then we have a performance with that, and then we are meeting up with some composer clinics and then another performance with that.”
Cole added, “I am looking forward to the master classes that we are going to be doing. I think we are doing a couple at Julliard so that would probably be the most beneficial. A professional musician will sit down with all of us and that musician will lead a class and give us information, and stuff like that. We can also ask questions.”

About why he played in the orchestra, Suppelsa added, “It has given me something to work towards. Like something to get better at I’d say. Because I play the violin and it is something you can always get better at, and I am not super competitive with it, and I enjoy playing it with my friends.”

However, others are trying to get good at their instruments so that it can influence their choice of what they want to do in the future.

Cole said, “ Well, I want to go to college for music specifically in New York City, so I think going to New York City right now is going to be beneficial to my knowledge of what college might look like.”
While the trip is mostly for music, students are looking forward to some other activities.

Wood said, “We are going to see ‘Aladdin’ on Broadway and looking to play somewhere new.”
Suppelsa added, “To be honest I don’t know much about the trip, but I am excited to be in that Big Apple, and walk the streets of the city.”

However, the main goal for some was just being on the trip itself.

Suppelsa said, “I would say just try to have an open mind because I think traveling broadens your perspective no matter where it is. If it’s a state away, that’s good, and if it is in a different country, that is good too. I think traveling is all about opening your perspective.”