By Grace Hu and Shrija Krishnan, Staff Reporter and Business Manager
Since senior Lauren Wu began playing the violin at 6 years old, she has been active in the music community, both in the music department at Conestoga and outside of school. Per the request of her junior year English teacher, Bridget McGuinn, she now heads Chamber Music, an club dedicated to fostering an environment for student chamber music. The club has long existed at Conestoga but remained largely inactive after the pandemic.
“At the end of last year, my English teacher said, ‘Lauren, I know you’re involved with chamber music — would you be interested in stepping into a leadership position for this year?’ Wu said. “And so I took over the reins with the club and decided to set up performance opportunities for club members.”
The name “chamber” comes from when groups of musicians would play in people’s private quarters or “chambers.” Today, “chamber music” is used to refer to any small group of musicians.
“A lot of our members are involved within Conestoga music, but don’t have the opportunities to perform chamber music,” Wu said. “A lot of people do their own solo music or do a giant ensemble like orchestra, but maybe don’t have experience with small groups. Having that experience is important because it not only improves their musical abilities by listening to the people they’re playing with, but also they get to make a bigger impact in their community.”
Club adviser Bridget McGuinn explains that in addition to improving students’ musical abilities, performance opportunities help students with performance anxiety, since performing in smaller groups gives students exposure they may not have had in larger orchestras. Additionally, she explains that the club provides a space for students with similar interests to come together.
“The number of students who love classical music is, I don’t think, a wide percentage of the school population,” McGuinn said. “So it’s really nice for students having opportunities to actually get to interact with other people who put that level of time, and that level of work, into something that not a lot of other people they’re surrounded by care too much about.”
McGuinn believes that the club’s biggest challenge is coordinating a time for the club to meet due to the members’ busy schedules. Wu says that in the future, in addition to arranging performance opportunities, she hopes the club will offer common times for members to form their own groups and provide a location to rehearse.
“We are looking into having a space where people who don’t have a group (and) want to play with other members can have all these experiences,” Wu said. “Right now, we don’t have the structure of pairing people together to make chamber music groups, but we are looking to do that as more people are interested in the club.”
As of now, the club mainly focuses on performing in local community events and spaces like senior living centers. Wu believes that performance opportunities help students involved in musical organizations like Tri-M meet performance hour requirements.
“I think the members start off doing it for (the hours), but then I think once they participate in events like these, they really see the bigger impact they’re making in their community through music,” Wu said. “And I think it brings joy to all of us.”
Grace Hu can be reached at [email protected].
Shrija Krishnan can be reached at [email protected].
