The Ottawa University orchestra program has been growing in size and quality for the last few years.
Six years ago there was nothing, and now there are 22 musicians.
This year, the orchestra consist of 12 students, two faculty members, three community members, three exchange students from the Suzuki School of Music and two high school exchange students from Germany.
Orchestra Director Steven McDonald said the increase in members has brought improvement.
“It means a change in the image of the program,” he said. “We are growing.”
McDonald said this increase also opens up new possibilites.
“Now that we have a solid core of players, we look like a true-size orchestra,” McDonald said. “This number of players enables us to plan a more varied repertoire.”
Likewise, he said this helps with future recruiting. Most high school orchestras are bigger than Ottawa University’s orchestra.
“When they play in a larger orchestra they can hide a little bit more,” McDonald said. “Here, all the players are important. We want to hear them. And we need to hear them.”
Freshman Michael Jones said he thinks the program is growing in the right direction.
“We have very high quality instructors, (and) very good professors. It is obvious that the administration wants to keep improving the program,” Jones said. “They are very passionate about the program here and so are we. We want to continue to help this program to grow.”
Jones also said the program is different then what he had been used to in the past.
“Dr. McDonald takes a different approach—a more professional approach where we are really told to rely on ourselves,” Jones said. “Here it is more about finding those rhythms by ourselves. They tell us … what they want to feel.”
Sophomore Amy Hastings said she is excited about the growth of the program. “We have grown a lot, which is really fun,” she said. “There are a lot of new players.”
Hastings described the group as “very dedicated” and said the changes have not affected older orchestra members because the way the orchestra functions is similar to what it used to be in the past.
“I think it is the same,” Hastings said. “(McDonald) does a nice job giving everyone the attention that they need. Most people have personal lessons with him to make sure we are all in the same page.”
Concerts this academic year will be Oct. 28, Dec. 9, Feb. 27 and April 21.