On every blue and gold day of the school week in room 402, a beautiful sound resonates through the quad of Sierra Vista High School as students learn to play their instruments, to read music, and to run their scales. The orchestra program expects students to develop skills such as music reading, understanding rhythms, as well as learning to interpret the composer’s intentions from the music they play and practice. Orchestra gives students the opportunity to make music and develop friendships through the music making process.
Dr McGlasson, the Sierra Vista High School orchestra teacher remarks, “The goals for the orchestra this year are to continue developing our technical skill so we can improve as musicians. We are also continuing to recruit students to join the orchestra to build our numbers.” Dr McGlasson mentions that there’s, “multiple orchestra members that “run” the orchestra class. Leah Valle ( 12) is the president and helper for the orchestra classes while vice president David Stepanian ( 12) makes sure the orchestra runs and organizes social events and the logistics of their performances.”
The orchestra performs several times a semester primarily in the SVHS Theater. In the spring, the orchestra will perform in competitions at Clark HS and The Las Vegas Academy of the Arts. The orchestra created a special performance this year for their chamber orchestra in St. George, Utah; this performance will take place on February 19th, 2026.
One of the honors of participating in orchestra is earning “first chair”. In order to earn this title, students must take a playing test to see what the student musicians learned and see if they are capable of reading their music. If a student earns an A on their test, the director assigns them first chair, which means they sit at the front, and could possibly earn solos. Whoever comes in close behind them, earns the second chair and so on.
Overall, orchestra is about students learning the methods to be musicians and creating not only beautiful music but also build lifelong bonds. Students can join the orchestra by picking it as an elective before the new school year starts.
