Alia Rumreich, member of Philharmonic Orchestra and sophomore, takes her violin out of its locker to practice at home. She said she and her orchestra have been focusing on preparing for the ISSMA competition, which is in April.

On March 4 and 5, guest conductor Michael Garasi will come to this school to work with each of the CHS orchestras during class. According to director of orchestras Elisabeth Ohly-Davis, Garasi visited this school two years ago as well.

“He’s going to be in here working with all the students, and we’re all really excited for that,” Ohly-Davis said.

Besides Garasi’s upcoming visit, the top priority of the CHS orchestras for the next few weeks will be practicing for the Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA) competition, which will take place during the weekend after spring break.

“The (ISSMA) competition date is coming up quickly, so it’s going to be pretty tight timeline,” Ohly-Davis said. “Practicing for ISSMA has definitely been our main focus.”

Alia Rumreich, member of Philharmonic Orchestra and sophomore, also said the orchestras have been focusing on ISSMA.

“We’ve been practicing sight reading since that’s a part of ISSMA, and we’ve also been working on our rhythm by counting and clapping during class,” Rumreich said. “We’ve also just been focusing on our intonation and notes.” By Wendy Zhu