The Midwest Clinic
The VHHS symphony orchestra is one of three high school orchestras chosen to perform at this year’s Midwest Clinic, an annual band and orchestra conference held in Chicago. Nearly 150 orchestras from 30 different countries submitted audition tapes to play at McCormick Place in downtown Chicago for an audience of 4,000 people.
¨The Midwest Clinic is the biggest music education conference in the world,” said orchestra director Mr. Heath. ¨It’s the biggest honor a high school ensemble can have.¨
Last year, 17,000 students, educators, and professionals participated in the world class clinics, reading sessions, rehearsal labs, and performances.
¨Everyone’s really excited about it¨ said orchestra member Ellory Longdon (11). ¨No one that’s in the orchestra was in it last time we went so it’s new to everyone.¨
Mr. Heath was working at Libertyville High School in 2009 when he attended a performance by Vernon Hills at the Clinic. Performing schools are required to wait five years before auditioning again.
The process began last year in class to learn music for audition tapes. A Grammy award winning sound engineer worked with the orchestra to help professionally record their application. After being accepted, two rehearsals were held over the summer to get reactions from the students and choose songs.
Participating orchestras must play pieces composed in the past two years, with difficulty levels ranging from elementary school to professional levels. Following all of the guidelines, Mr. Heath said ¨we’re looking for compositions that are musically interesting, fun to play, and have a nice contrast.¨
A bass soloist from The Lyric Opera, Andy Anderson, will also be featured during their full length concert.
VHHS is one of the smallest schools to perform at this event. ¨Vernon Hills is this perfect storm of all these factors. It’s truly like no other place I’ve ever seen. It’s small but it has this amount of resources but also the mentality and culture that is so pro music and strong in the arts,¨ says Mr. Linnes-Bagley, Assistant Orchestra Director.
Both the orchestra students and staff feel incredibly honored to take part in this event. ¨Everyone’s really excited about it,¨ said Longdon.
Anyone interested in hearing a few of the pieces can attend the orchestra concert on November 17th at 7:30, or a full preview concert a few days before the clinic (date and time TBD).
Aubrey Black
Staff Reporter