Every year, orchestra students look forward to the spring. The year’s almost over and UIL competitions are finished, so now the countdown to the annual spring trip begins. On the even years, students from all of the different orchestra classes get a chance to perform in a music competition that is held in San Antonio. Whereas, in years past, on odd years, only the Chamber Orchestra traveled to New York to perform in competition. This year, the Orchestra Directors decided to change things up. Now, 34 Orchestra students get a chance to travel to Florida to perform in a venue and visit the “Most Magical Place on Earth”; Disney World.
This is a first for the Deer Park High School Orchestra. Not only is there no competition, but the 34 students going will get a first-hand experience of a Disney employee for a day. The orchestra will set up and play many pieces of music for the tourists in Disney’s new shopping and attraction area, Disney Springs, which is located near the main parks.
“Well this is actually a chance for us to gig and tour, and get an idea of what it feels like to actually be a professional performing musician. So there is no competition aspect to this particular trip,” said Orchestra Director Megan Gomen. “And in the past, we have done a lot of competitions where we try to win trophies and things like that. But we wanted to kind of go with a more real world experience this year.”
For the students, it’s a whole new world. “Performing at Disney will be an experience because when will I ever get another chance to preform there,” said 11th grader Long Cao. “I can’t wait to see all the new rides and [the] different Disney characters at Magic Kingdom.”
Let’s all wish this special group of orchestra a safe trip and a great experience at the “Most Magical Place on Earth.”
Comments
“…a whole new world.” I see what you did there. Well done.