Episode 30 - 2021-22 Program of Studies: Orchestra Courses with Ms. Sarah Miller

SHOW TOPIC
2021-22 Program of Studies: Orchestra Courses with Ms. Sarah Miller 

SPECIAL GUEST
Ms. Sarah Miller, Seneca Valley Orchestra Director 

Sarah Miller is a violinist and teacher in the Pittsburgh area. Ms. Miller has worked at Seneca Valley for five years where she teaches orchestra, grades 7-12. Ms. Miller holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Duquesne University, a master’s in music from the University of Michigan. She prides herself on her desire to be a lifelong learner and hopes to exemplify this in her teaching. As a violinist, Ms. Miller regularly performs with the Butler Symphony, and gigs in the Pittsburgh Area. 

IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW
• What students need to know about joining orchestra
• What orchestra is and what instruments are offered 
• The variety of music the orchestra plays
• What students say about being in orchestra
• What other music electives are offered

USEFUL INFORMATION
www.svsd.net/POS

Transcript

 FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)

File Name: Voices E30 Sarah Miller.mp3

File Length: 00:08:19

00:00:02:23 - 00:00:07:25

Introduction: Welcome to Voices, a podcast brought to you by the Seneca Valley School District. 

00:00:10:22 - 00:00:19:25

Jeff Krakoff: This is Jeff Krakoff.  Today, I'm talking with Sarah Miller, who is an orchestra teacher with students grades 7-12. Thanks for joining us. 

00:00:20:15 - 00:00:21:11

Sarah Miller: Thank you for having me. 

00:00:21:18 - 00:00:28:04

Jeff Krakoff: So let's start with at Seneca Valley. What is the history? How far back does the orchestra go? 

00:00:29:00 - 00:00:53:25

Sarah Miller: So the orchestra was developed 10 years ago next year, so next year, our 10 year anniversary, and we're planning on having some sort of celebration for that. And when it was started, it was originally just an elective that's offered to students 9-12. And now it's offered all the way from fourth grade to 12th grade. And we have several different ensembles and several different levels of playing within those grade levels. 

00:00:55:04 - 00:01:10:26

Jeff Krakoff: So I know orchestra in our world has been around a long time. I believe it goes back probably about four hundred years. But tell us, when we say orchestra, what are we talking about? How many different instruments? What types of instruments? 

00:01:11:12 - 00:01:41:19

Sarah Miller: Yeah, so at Seneca Valley orchestra only refers to a string orchestra, so it's just string instruments. So that would be violin, viola, cello and upright bass. In our ensembles there are two different violin parts, violin one and violin two. And everybody else just plays the same part if you play viola, cello or bass. So we do not have any other instruments, like a full orchestra would be with wind and other. Like if you were to go see the PSO, the Pittsburgh Symphony, that's a full orchestra. 

00:01:41:21 - 00:01:44:18

Sarah Miller: We offer string orchestra here at Seneca Valley.  

00:01:44:20 - 00:01:55:05

Jeff Krakoff: OK, so with strings, I'm picturing particular types of music, mostly classical comes to mind. But what tell me the kinds of music your orchestra gets involved with. 

00:01:55:19 - 00:02:27:19

Sarah Miller: Yeah, so we do a lot of classical music. I personally like classical music, but I also think that it's important to incorporate all types of music into a vast musical education. So we don't just play classical music, we often do movie music that's very popular, like John Williams, Star Wars, things like that. We also do a lot of arrangements of pop songs or something that you might hear on the radio. They do make very well done arrangements of that for string orchestras. 

00:02:27:27 - 00:02:51:05

Sarah Miller: We also do a lot of original pieces for string orchestra. So things that are not necessarily something you would hear on the radio, but they also are not classical music as you would define it. It's more modern than classical music. However, it's still a form of classical music, but it tends to be more appealing to younger audiences. 

00:02:51:10 - 00:02:54:19

Jeff Krakoff: OK, so how many students are involved in orchestra? 

00:02:55:05 - 00:03:15:08

Sarah Miller: Yeah, there are a lot of kids in orchestra now. Actually I have almost 200 in grades7-12 and I believe it's similar in the elementary level. So there are a lot of kids involved in orchestra and we're growing every year. So with every passing year there seems to be more and more kids involved, which is great. 

00:03:15:29 - 00:03:22:19

Jeff Krakoff: Got it. So what are the opportunities for students? What music electives are available? 

00:03:23:20 - 00:03:57:06

Sarah Miller: So specifically, in orchestra, you can be in the fourth, fifth or sixth grade orchestra, and then when you get to middle school, it's the same. There's a seventh grade orchestra and an eighth grade orchestra that meet during the school day. In high school, there's a high school orchestra, and next year we're really excited to introduce a high school chamber orchestra, which is going to be an audition-only ensemble. And then we also have an elective here that's unique to Seneca Valley called individual musicianship, where students can take a private lesson during the day on their instrument of choice. 

00:03:57:08 - 00:04:21:24

Sarah Miller: So I teach bass, cello, violin and viola. However, that's also offered in band and in chorus. And we have guitar and piano IM. We abbreviate individual musicianship to IM. So if you play any instrument, you have an opportunity to get one-on one instruction during the school day, which is something not done in any other school in this area. 

00:04:22:17 - 00:04:33:00

Jeff Krakoff: You mentioned chamber orchestra is going to be an offering. What's the difference between chamber and what we would think is a regular or traditional orchestra? 

00:04:33:09 - 00:05:07:27

Sarah Miller: Yes, a chamber orchestra. It's just going to be slightly smaller ensemble of students who are very into orchestra. So those are going to be the kids who perhaps want to go on to pursue music after college, or they believe that that's something that would serve them well in the future. So that's an audition-only ensemble versus our regular orchestra, which anybody in the school is able to join. So if you have played a string instrument before or you're just interested in picking one up and you want to take lessons, anybody can join our regular string orchestra. 

00:05:08:09 - 00:05:08:24

Jeff Krakoff: All right. 

00:05:08:26 - 00:05:24:10

Jeff Krakoff: So since you're working with students grades 7-12, they're very different in terms of age and maturity and all types of things. What are you hearing from students both at the younger levels and let's say a junior and senior in high school that are participating? 

00:05:25:19 - 00:06:13:10

Sarah Miller: So I think that as students get older, so from seventh and eighth grade, a lot of kids are just trying to find themselves, find where they fit in the school, find the activities that they really enjoy doing. So in seventh and eighth grade, a lot of the kids that I have in class are obviously interested in music, but maybe don't know if this is going to be something that they pursue down the road. It's really great for me to be able to watch them kind of make those decisions. And often I hear in those grade levels that they like being an orchestra during the school day, but they like the opportunity to possibly play sports or do other activities that are offered in the middle school when the kids get to high school because they've already been together as an orchestra class for several years. 

00:06:13:12 - 00:06:47:25

Sarah Miller: At this point, many of them have been together since seventh and eighth grade. And then there's a select few that they've been with since fourth grade. So one thing I hear a lot from the kids is that they really enjoy that opportunity to get to know their peers in a different way than they would in a more traditional class year with the same group of people every year. So I think we have a really strong community, in orchestra, and it's something that I've really valued in my classroom. But I also have heard from the kids that they really enjoy the opportunity to know that when they come to orchestra, they're going to get to see their friends. 

00:06:48:02 - 00:07:03:19

Sarah Miller: And when they come to orchestra, they're going to get to talk to somebody that they've known for many years. And then on top of it, they get to do something that they enjoy doing. So they come to orchestra, they like playing music, and they get to do it with their friends. So it's it's really like the best of both worlds. 

00:07:04:02 - 00:07:12:29

Jeff Krakoff: Yeah. What a great experience. So if I'm a student interested in joining orchestra, what do I need to know? Where do I go? 

00:07:14:02 - 00:07:45:19

Sarah Miller: So the first thing I would suggest is if you're interested in joining orchestra, reach out to me via TEAMS or via e-mail. We would love to have anybody who has ever played an instrument come back and join us. We know that this year has obviously been a little bit different than years in the past. And some people may have not done orchestra this year, even though they did it in the past because it didn't fit into their schedule or they went full-time cyber. But we're we would encourage everybody to come back. That's the same is true for band and for chorus. 

00:07:45:25 - 00:07:58:17

Sarah Miller: If you've never played an instrument before, again reach out to somebody and we are more than willing to get you set up on the correct path to make sure that next year you're ready to go and you can be a part of our ensembles. 

00:07:58:29 - 00:08:11:00

Jeff Krakoff: All right. Well, lots of good information. Thank you so much. That's Sarah Miller. And again, good luck with the orchestra the rest of this year and next year. And thanks for joining us. Take care. 

00:08:11:24 - 00:08:12:20

Sarah Miller: You too. Bye.