Taking Orchestra By the Strings

Hilary Hui, Contributing Writer|January 27, 2023

Starting off the new year on a high note, Diamond Bar High School’s Orchestra Department is preparing for their upcoming SCSBOA performance on Jan. 20 and 21, marking their 15th consecutive year of having the top number of students get into All-Southern Honors.

Through rigorous auditions, juniors Arin Yi and Ian Kim were two of the 41 students from DBHS accepted into SCSBOA’s Honor Group. Playing violin and clarinet, respectively, both were given the opportunity to play amongst the top instrumental players in Southern California, 

“There’s typically about 300 schools that submit for it. So the kids do individual recordings, and then they get sent to the Association where judges rank them. Based on their ranking, the top ten percent get All-Southern honors and are given the opportunity to get together and do a concert,” music director Steve Acciani said. “So, it’s all the top instrumental players in Southern CA.”

When auditioning, students are to submit recordings of two solo excerpts from past orchestra pieces and one scale, given a month in advance. Once their auditions are recorded, uploaded and submitted, professional musicians and teachers judge their recordings and score them.

“The whole process isn’t too complicated,” Yi said. “Whether you make it or not is how much you prepared for it and how much detail you looked into it.”

Once accepted, students are given music and are expected to prepare and practice their pieces on their own leading up to their performance in January, where top players from all over Southern California gather for a weekend to rehearse and carry out a performance together.

“For me, it’s just a little nerve-racking because there’s so many new people and they’re all very good. And so you kind of feel like you have to do your best and it makes you motivated to practice more,” Kim said.

Acciani emphasized the importance of his students’ willingness to put themselves out there and possibly even face rejection, strengthening them and giving them the chance to compete and work with elite players.

“You’re risking a lot putting yourself out there, competing against the best of the best as well as  competing against kids that are at performing arts high schools where the academics are much easier so they have a lot more time to practice things like that,” Acciani said.

After rehearsals, these elite players perform with the help of their peers as well as top instructors and conductors, delivering a performance that wasn’t just memorable for players, but also mesmerizing for the audience to listen to.

“Since next year is my last year as a senior, I just wanna go there and make a really great memory performing with this orchestra for the last time,” Yi said. “Even as I was playing, I realized, ‘Wow, this is really great.’”