One of the lesser known music groups at Freedom is the Full Orchestra, which consists of violins, violas, cellos, basses, strings, some wind instruments, and percussion. Full Orchestra had their annual Music Performance Assessment (MPA) on February 24th and received “superiors” across the board—the second highest possible rating. There are only three other high schools that have full orchestras in Hillsborough County: H. B. Plant, Blake, and King.

The Full Orchestra played 3 pieces: The Tempest, composed by Robert W. Smith, Evangeline: Two Cajun Songs, arranged by Mike Story, and Danse des Ghazies, arranged by Victor Lopez.

“The strongest song, I would probably say, would be our first song. It’s an original composition that most people wouldn’t really know, but it’s the one I put first because it was our strongest. Now, the song that I feel was our best song was actually the second song, which is a two movement piece,” said Michael Barrineau, Band and Orchestra Director.

Since Full Orchestra also has wind and percussion players in it, they rehearse after school once or twice a week to hear the group as a whole.

“The concern with Full Orchestra is just rehearsal time because the string players rehearse the songs in class, but then I only work with the wind and percussion players afterschool. We really and truly put it together only about half a dozen times before we go get on stage,” remarked Barrineau.

Although Full Orchestra exceeded the director’s expectations, he had some disappointments.

“Some continuity, more musical moments, louds and softs, that’s the stuff I’d like to explore more with their next couple pieces,” stated Barrineau.

The wind players in Full Orchestra had first and second parts, with usually one person on each part, so missing players would equate to gaps in the music.

“The morning of MPA I was sick, like throwing up and my mom didn’t want me to go, but I went anyways. I felt nauseous, but I didn’t throw up again,” laughed Megan Westfall, 11. Megan plays first trumpet part, and had multiple solos in the three pieces.

Every musical group is evaluated on sight reading, which is reading music they have never seen before.

“Sight reading is the most dreaded part of every MPA I’ve gone to,” said Jarred Burge, 10. “I thought we were going to get a Good, especially since we were playing a piece above our level, but the sight-reading judge gave us a Superior and said we did great.”

Every upperclassman orchestra student is required to join Full Orchestra, but the winds and percussion must audition.

“If I had the choice, I would definitely do full orchestra again, especially after my experience this year,” revealed Burge.

“Full Orchestra is fun to be part of,” said Westfall. “I’m ready to do it again next year.”

The motivating force behind the musicians is their fervor for playing an instrument and the need to be better than they previously were. The long hours, many repetitions of the pieces, and criticism from the director were worth it to these students when the Superior was earned.