Welcome to the Northwood Orchestra!!

Rising 6th Grade Strings Orientation Meeting Tonight, Thursday, May 31st at 6:30pm at Northwood Middle School in the Cafeteria 

I received word from several parents that they did not receive the strings flyer about tonight's meeting until today, I can post the information on this websitethat I will share at the meeting tonight if you received the flyer to late to make the it. Unfortunately, I cannot reschedule the meeting as Bernhardt House of Violins can only come tonight with their busy schedule. If you have any questions about the program, choosing an instrument, renting or buying an instrument, please let me know. There is plenty of time to do that in August if you miss this meeting. Thanks so much.

7th & 8th Grade Orchestras Receive High Marks at Six Flags Festival!!

This past Saturday the seventh and eighth grade orchestras performed at Marietta High school in Georgia. I'm proud to say that the seventh grade received an Excellent rating and the eighth grade received a Superior rating!! The students then spent the rest of the day at Six Flags Over Georgia. We had a great time!!

Six Flags Trips!!

7th & 8th Grade Trip is on Saturday, April 28th

6th Grade Trip is on Saturday, May 5th

This year the cost of the buses has gone up, so the price of each student ticket is $80. We are doing a fundraiser to balance out the price of the trip (it would normally be $95 per students).Chaperones are free. 

Students need to pay their $80 by March 16th to go on the trip. Checks should be made to "Northwood Middle School".

Students Perform At Buena Vista Elementary School!!

Congratulations to our 2018 All-State Orchestra Students!!

We had the audition for All-State Orchestra this past Saturday at Lexington High School and three students were accepted: They are:

Ella Hale - violin

Emily Yoon - cello

Gage Mealor - bass

7th & 8th Grade Performed for the Nursing Homes!!

     The residents were thrilled to have us play an hour of Holiday music and so were the students!! What an experience for our students!! Thank you chaperones who made the trip possible with their help!Here is a short video of our Performances.

Congratulations to our students who participated in solo & Ensemble!!

Last week some of our strings students participated in Solo & Ensemble at Wade Hampton High School. They performed in front of a judge and were given a rating based on how they performed. I'm proud to say that we had 12 Superiors and 20 Excellent Ratings! 

Superior Awards

  • Gracen Miller
  • Gage Mealor
  • Valeria Grijalba
  • Emily Moreno, Ella Macpherson
  • Louis Seymour
  • Ella McNabb
  • Abby Florian
  • Matthew Escobar
  • Eileen Broadwell, Gracen Miller
  • Ella Hale

Excellent Awards

  • Savannah Motter, Maddie Candler
  • Tirza Rivas-Fuentes
  • Leslie Amaya
  • Jessika Ruiz, Ella Bukacek, Maddy Pfaffenroth
  • Trinity Smith, Maddy Pfaffenroth, Valeria Grijalba
  • Gracen Miller, Eileen Broadwell, Emily Yoon, Gage Mealor
  • Amanda Pfaffenroth, Matthew Escobar, Michelle Pena-Fitz
  • Sierra Campbell
  • Abby Florian, Maren Hester

Spring Concert for all grades is Tuesday, May 8th at 6pm at Northwood!!

6th Grade Receive a Superior Rating at Six Flags Festival!!

Click Here to see the video.

8th Grade Orchestra earns a Superior Rating at Concert Performance Assessment at North Greenville University!!

Click here to see the video of the concert.

Concert Performance Assessment

8th Grade Orchestra Will perform at Concert Performance Assessment on Tuesday, March 6th. The bus leaves from Northwood at 1pm and we will be back around 5-5:30pm. Students will need to bring their own bag lunch for the day.

All-County Performance is Outstanding!!

Our six All County students performed at Wade Hampton High School this past Friday, January 26th at 6:30pm. The students had a great time and did a fantastic job!!

Congratulations to our 2018 All-County Orchestra Students!!

This past week the auditions for All-County Orchestra took place and I am proud to say we have five students that were accepted and two students are alternates! The students are:

Ella Hale - violin

Annie Learing - violin

Emily Yoon - viola

Louis Seymour - viola

Gage Mealor - bass

(alternate) Tammy Nguyen - violin

(alternate) Sierra Campbell - violin


Click Here for the All-County Registration and forms that need to be completed. Make sure you click the link to place your food order, T-shirt form, and schedule.

Our Winter concert was a Big Success!!

All of the video from the concert is up!! Just click here to see it.

Our Fundraiser was very successful!!

Our first fundraiser began on Wednesday, November 8th and the purpose was to raise funds to pay for the bus for our nursing home tour. I'm very pleased to say that we paid for the buses!!

Strings Fall Concert is a success!!

Click Here to see the concert

This past Saturday the Region Orchestra auditions were held at League Academy. We had four students audition and all four made it!! 

ELLA HALE - VIOLIN

EMILY YOON - CELLO

GAGE MEALOR - BASS

LOUIS SEYMOUR - VIOLA

The concert will be on November 11th at 5pm at Anderson University.

6th Grade Orchestra

The students are learning to play songs using notes of the D string (D, E, F#, and G) and will begin learning the A string next (A, B, C#, and D). Both classes have a playing test on #36 from the Essential Elements book 1 on Friday, October 6th.

Here is a video from each class working on their D Major scale.

7th Grade Orchestra

7th Grade Strings After School Rehearsals and Concert

To help us prepare for our October 24th concert, we need to have some after school rehearsals to combine both 7th grade classes and practice the music together. Each student must come to a minimum of 3 rehearsals. The rehearsals will be from 3:15-4:30pm in the strings room. Students need to come on time so we can have the full time to rehearse. Students who make it to all 4 rehearsals will receive a 100 on their next playing test. There is one additional rehearsal that is mandatory the day before the concert, Monday, October 23rd from 3:15-4:45pm so we can combine the 7th and 8th grade for the Game of Thrones piece along with our percussionist. I will take attendance at each rehearsal. Below are the dates for each rehearsal:

Friday, October 6th

Friday, October 13th

Tuesday, October 17th

Wednesday, October 18th

*Monday, October 23rd 3:15-4:45pm in the Cafetorium* (Mandatory)

Concert is Tuesday, October 24th at 6pm - Students need to arrive by 5:15pm so we can tune.

The concert dress for our October 24th concert is the same as last year: Men - a white shirt and black dress pants, and black socks and shoes., Ladies - the same or a white blouse and black dress pants or skirt that is an appropriate school length, and black shoes.


8th Grade Orchestra

8th Grade After School Rehearsals the next few weeks

To help us prepare for our October 24th concert, we need to have some after school rehearsals to help prepare us for our first concert. Each student must come to a minimum of 3 rehearsals. The rehearsals will be from 3:15-4:30pm in the strings room. Students need to come on time so we can have the full time to rehearse. Students who make it to all 4 rehearsals will receive a 100 on their next playing test. There is one additional rehearsal that is mandatory the day before the concert, Monday, October 23rd from 3:15-4:45pm so we can combine the 7th and 8th grade for the Game of Thrones piece along with our percussionist. I will take attendance at each rehearsal. Below are the dates for each rehearsal:

Tuesday, October 3rd

Thursday, October 5th

Tuesday, October 10th

Wednesday, October 12th

*Monday, October 23rd 3:15-4:45pm in the Cafetorium* (Mandatory)

Concert is Tuesday, October 24th at 6pm - Students need to arrive by 5:15pm so we can tune.

The concert dress for our October 24th concert is the same as last year: Men - a white shirt and black dress pants, and black socks and shoes., Ladies - the same or a white blouse and black dress pants or skirt that is an appropriate school length, and black shoes.

Up coming events

7th Grade Performs for the 7th Grade Awards Day on Monday, June 4th from 12:20-12:30pm in the Gym