Olivia White, member of Philharmonic Orchestra and sophomore, packs up her violin at the end of her orchestra class. In order to prepare for the upcoming fall concert on Oct. 18., the orchestra directors assigned playing tests in each orchestra, and White submitted her recorded test earlier this month. “We have three playing tests per concert, and usually, two of them are recorded and submitted through Canvas,” White said.

The CHS Orchestras are preparing for their fall concert that will be on Oct. 18 in the Dale E. Graham Auditorium. All orchestras at this school will be playing at the concert. According to Director of Orchestras Elisabeth Ohly-Davis, the concert will be split into two parts.

“The first concert will be the two freshman orchestras and Symphony Orchestra, and then the second concert will feature Sinfonia, Festival, and Philharmonic (Orchestra),” Ohly-Davis said.

To make sure the students are ready for the concert, the orchestra directors have been assigning playing tests that are either recorded or live.

Olivia White, member of Philharmonic Orchestra and sophomore, said, “(The directors) use (the tests) to determine what chair you are, and they are usually very stressful.”

In orchestra, chairs are a way to rank students based on playing test scores. According to White, the playing tests are scored out of 60, and students can be deducted by a tenth of a point.

“Right now, we’re just going through our day-to-day life in orchestra,” Ohly-Davis said. “We’re just doing in-class rehearsals with our regular scheduled class time.” By Wendy Zhu