“I ended up taking orchestra and honors orchestra both semesters freshman year. Then, I took orchestra up to honors throughout my high school career. In all honesty, the violin is a challenging instrument and much more arduous to learn than people give it credit for being. That said, Mr. Parker made it fun to learn and every day resulted in some inside joke that stayed with us till the end of the year. I would highly advocate for taking orchestra at HPC because it offers up a therapeutic outlet, a lesson in diligence, and a more free flowing classroom than just about any other class in the school. It has completely changed the way I listen to music. Now, when I listen to a song, I am able to catch the contribution of each part to the overall work and identify the dynamics used.” -Isaac R. (c/o 2017)

“My experience taking orchestra during the COVID-19 pandemic was a fun experience. At the beginning of the pandemic I was planning on dropping out of the class but I decided not to as there were benefits from taking it. Playing violin during the pandemic helped distract me from negative things and gave me a option to do productive things such as learning new pieces along with techniques and even composing music. Because the pandemic made me stay home while taking orchestra I had a lot more time to focus on my violin skills.” Myat-Suu S. (c/o 2023)