Our school got selected to play in the National Orchestra Festival that was held from March 7th to March 10th this year at Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In order to be able to play at such a high level performing festival, we had to do a lot of work. Last year, our Advanced Orchestra sent an orchestra recording to get accepted for this years National Orchestra Festival. Schools from around the nation sent tapes for this festival but only few got selected. The judges listened to all the recordings and selected 6 middle schools and 16 high schools to compete in the competition. Our group got selected meaning that the Advanced Orchestra this year could perform in the festival. And so the journey starts…
Day 1 – March 7, 2019
I got up at 6:00 am, and soon left for school. All of us still had to go to school and we would depart for the airport once school ended. Before I went to class, I dropped my luggage off in the orchestra room along with everyone else.
School that day went by so slowly. The moment the bell rang, all us orchestra kids went to the orchestra room and started loading buses and instruments (violins + violas). (The cellos and basses would be rented in Albuquerque since it would be a big hassle to carry those instruments onto the plane). We left our school at 2:45 and by 4:30 pm, we had arrived at the airport. At the airport, we started unloading busses and we each grabbed our instruments. We then had to cross the street to get inside the actual building. It looked really crazy because there was just 70 of us just crossing the street with our luggage. Once we crossed the street, Mr. Conway, our conductor, gave us our boarding passes.
After we got our boarding passes, we went inside the airport, checked in our luggage, and went through security check. Once that was over, we had free time to ourselves till 7:30. We all had to eat dinner at someplace in the airport before the flight had to board. My friends and I ate at this super duper over priced pizza place. I got the margarita pizza which had tomatoes, cheese, and garlic on it. It tasted pretty good except, like I said, it was overpriced.
Once we ate dinner, we all waited near our gate. Since there were roughly 70 of us, there were not even close to enough seats to fit us all. We all just ended up sitting on the ground and it looked hilarious!
At 7:40, we boarded the plane. All the chaperones helped us put our instruments in the overhead bins. By 8 pm, we took off. Once we had reached 10,000 feet, the plane assistants came and gave us drinks and a packet of ritz crackers. The plane ride was only three hours and by 11 pm, we had reached…
We then claimed our baggage from the conveyor belt and got ready to go to the Double Tree Hotel which we would be staying in for the next few days. The hotel was right next to the convention center which is where we would perform and eat (most of the time).
At 12:00 am, we got our room keys for the hotel and went to our room. My friends that were rooming with me were Claris, Chantale, and Sanjana. Our room was on the highest floor of the hotel, the 15th floor. By 12:30, we changed into our PJs, took a shower, and slept.
Day 2 – March 8, 2019
Sanjana, Claris, Chantale, and I got up at 7:30 for we had to be downstairs by 8 am. We took our time and changed and suddenly at 7:40, our hotel phone rang. Our friends screamed through the phone saying where are you? All four of us in the room were so confused. They told us that we had to be down at 7:30! We all panicked, immediately changed our clothes, and ran downstairs. I didn’t even comb my hair or wash my face.
As soon as we reached the hotel lobby, we went outside the hotel with our group and crossed the street to go to the convention center for breakfast. At the convention center, I ate a toast and some potatoes.
After breakfast at 9 am, we went to a hall in the convention center. There, we listened to three other middle schools perform. The first and third groups we listened to were not really good. The second group was pretty good and I am sure they got a lot of good comments from the adjudicators.
At 12 pm, we went to the other side of the convention center and ate lunch. Lunch was really good. There were hard tacos, soft tacos, and best of all, chocolate cake.
After lunch, we had to go back to the hotel and change into our concert dress. This was the big day we had been working hard for. At 1:30 sharp, all of us were downstairs in the hotel lobby and once the last people reached, we went back to the convention center.
We went to the warm up room at 2 pm and warmed up till 2:45. At 3 pm, we walked onto the stage in our very best behaviors. I went to my seat near the podium and within a few minutes, we started our performance. The pieces we played were Saint Paul’s Suite 1st Movement Jig (Holst), Chapter One (Nunez), Rock Canyon Club (Silva), The Faraway Place (Hofeldt), and Vanishing Pointe (Meyer). At about 3:30 pm, we had finished our performance. We sat on the stage till 3:45 and headed to the clinic room after that.
The clinic room was where a judge would work with you and give you some tips on your music. Our clinician was Terry Shade. She was extremely energetic and her feedback wasn’t very useful. Once the clinic was over, we packed our instruments, headed back to the hotel, and changed out of our concert dress.
At 6 pm, all of us were told to come downstairs and we were going to head out for dinner. We went to eat at a restaurant called Bucca di Beppo.
When we entered the restaurant, there was a section sectioned off for our group. We took a seat and they started us of with some salad. Once the salad was over, they served us red sauce and white sauce spaghetti. For desert, they gave us cheesecake. The food was really good and tasty and I definitely recommend this place. At 8 pm, we left the restaurant and headed back to the convention center.
At the convention center, there was a late night event for students. The purpose of the event was to meet other students from other schools. When we arrived there, there were lots of food (popcorn, candy, fruits, cookies), small toys, and glow sticks. The event was really boring because everyone was just doing their own thing. At 9 pm, Sanjana, Chantale, Claris, and I decided to go back to our hotel. We watched some youtube, took a shower, and slept at 11:30 pm.
Day 3 – March 9, 2019
We got up at 7 am, and finished breakfast by 8:30. The breakfast wasn’t as good as the other days. All there was was some juice and granola bars. Once we finished breakfast, our whole group along with the other schools waited outside Ballroom C. Today was the day we would find out what place we got in the competition.
As we entered the room, the coordinators and judges gave a small little speech and then they began the ceremony. They started by giving each group participation trophies. Then they started with the actual awards. My hands were sweating and my phone was ready to record. They first announced 3rd place and it wasn’t us. We all thought the 3rd place group was really good so I didn’t have high hopes for us. Then they went to 2nd place. “The group that got 2nd place goes to the Hopkins…” and that is all we needed to hear. We all jumped up out of seats and started screaming. I couldn’t believe we had gotten 2nd place! Mr. Conway went up to the stage along with two of the best musicians in our orchestra. They picked up our 2nd place trophy and brought it down to the audience.
The rest of the award ceremony was really boring because they went through all the high school groups and it took a long time. After the award ceremony, we got to eat lunch in the exhibit hall. There was pasta, cookies, bread, and salad. I finished lunch by 12:30 and after, we got to look around in the exhibit hall. There were lots of amazing instruments to try out.
At 2 pm, our group decided to go back to our room and rest. At exactly 2:50 pm, all the groups that performed in the National Orchestra festival were called to the Awards Concert. The two groups that played at the concert were the middle school 1st place group and high school 1st place group. The middle school group that won 1st place was from Las Vegas, Nevada. Their pieces were really good and I am pretty sure they also won 1st last year.
By 5 pm, the concert for the 1st place groups were over and we went back to the hotel. At 6:30 pm, we went back downstairs and hoped into the buses. We were going to Dave and Busters for dinner! At Dave and Busters, my friends and I sat at a table and played some cards while we waited for our pizza and fries.
After eating for 30 min, Mr. Conway gave us cards with money loaded onto them to play in the arcade. At first, I played car racing and basketball games. I soon realized that those games didn’t even give any tickets. I then went to the game where you spin the wheel and I earned so many tickets from that. Before we left, I traded in my tickets for some prizes; a pineapple water bottle, a donut plushie, and a cake plushie.
We reached our hotel by 9:30 pm and we were told to pack our suitcases since we were going back home the next day. I packed my suitcase, took a shower, and slept at 11 pm.
Day 4 – March 10, 2019
Sanjana, Claris, Chantale, and I got up at 6:30 am, got dressed, and headed downstairs. For breakfast, we had to eat the food provided by the hotel. I attempted making myself some toast for breakfast but I messed up so many times. The first time I put the toast in the toaster, I didn’t know how to pop it out. The second time, the button that pops the toast up did not work. And the third time, I waited to long and the toast got burned again. Finally, the fourth time, the toast came out perfectly.
After breakfast, we went to our room to get our suitcase and our instruments. At 8:30, we started loading busses and at 9:40, we reached the Albuquerque International Airport. After checking in bags and going through security check and all that stuff, we had till 11:30 am to do whatever we wanted. Our whole group first headed to the terminal. Other folks at the airport saw us carrying our instruments and they asked if we could play a song for them. Immediately we said yes, unpacked our instruments, and started playing our whole set of music. People around us started video taping and I felt like a movie star.
After playing our set of music, we packed our instruments and some of us decided to get some Panda Express for lunch. At 11:30 am, we boarded our plane and within 3 hours, we were back at school :(.
I had such an amazing time in Albuquerque with all my friends and never thought I would get a chance to participate in a National Competition. I want to thank Mr. Conway, for all his hard work and dedication in helping us achieve a 2nd place award and taking the time to organize such a well-planned trip.
And here are some more pictures from the trip…
