Students of all musical abilities and experiences were encouraged to take center stage at this local student concert. Last week, family members and friends of students came together for one evening to celebrate their loved one’s talent and dedication to their craft.
Strictly Strings, an annual local student orchestra concert held at Los Altos High School’s Eagle Theater, organized 200 students from Almond Elementary, Covington Elementary, Gardner Bullis Elementary, Santa Rita Elementary, Egan Junior High and Los Altos High School to showcase young people’s growth and progressions of their instrument skills. The event was funded by the Los Altos Educational Foundation, a group of parents and local community members who contributed money to host the concert and support the district’s music programs.
Strictly Strings just celebrated its 36th concert, Joe Chan, the conductor of the fifth- and sixth-grade orchestra, said. Chan said the purpose of the concert is to expose the younger students to the older ones and show them their potential for excelling with their instruments. Chan said the event included only string instrument musicians. The instruments that could be seen at the concert included the violin, viola and cello.
“It’s a joy to see them come together to play,” Chan said. “When they first start, they don’t even know how to read notes and when they are coming together for this event, it is a culmination for them.”
Chan said when the students perform together, it is like rooting for a sports team, and it is amazing to see how they work together for a big event. Chan said the orchestras typically practice once a week for 60 minutes. He also encourages the students to practice at home four to five times a week. Chan said he makes various trips every week to visit the various school sites and conduct for the group of students.
“I used to be a classroom teacher at Almond and I used to teach second, third and fifth grade, so I was at one school and then I switched to music,” Chan said. “It’s nice going to different schools and seeing how each school has its own culture and climate, it’s interesting. I enjoy doing that.”
Chan said many of the students have a wide ability of talents and many start not even knowing how to read notes. Others, he said, are fortunate to have private lessons for several years. He said his course tries to give everyone a basic foundation. He said musical education is important for students to discover their artistic skills and to become more well-rounded people.
“We’re one of the few districts in this area that have music, actual music class,” he said. “At some of the other school districts, the kids are at their music lessons before school or after school. Or they’re called out of the classroom, so they miss classroom instruction. We’re one of those districts that have a class during the school day.”
Chan said the concert is a free event and wouldn’t have been made possible without the community’s support, which continues to allow music to prosper. He hopes the concerts can also spark interest in other students who didn’t think picking up an instrument is something they can do.
He said many of the grade levels perform their own song, such as the sixth graders performed “Petite Tango” while performing with the other grade levels. He enjoys bringing the various age groups together and seeing them learn from each other.
“Seeing these performances re-energizes me as a teacher,” Chan said. “The concert also provides parents who don’t have musical backgrounds a better understanding of how important music is and how students practice their instrument at home and as a group.”
