VOA标准英语2010年-Student Symphony Soars

Aspiring¹ young musicians explore their talents outside of school

Faiza Elmasry | Washington, DC 14 May 2010
 

The Student Symphonic Orchestra of Fairfax, which students formed on their own outside of school, just celebrated² its first anniversary.

Classical Musician Spearheads Mexican Folk Revival³ in US, Mexico
Matthew Martz was an 18-year-old high school senior in Fairfax, Virginia, last year when he founded the Student Symphonic Orchestra.

Now a freshman⁴ in college, Martz says the student orchestra provides an opportunity for aspiring young musicians to explore their talents and have fun while they're at it. Those talented young artists have just celebrated the orchestra's first anniversary.

Pursuing a passion

Music has always been Matt Martz's passion. He played the trombone in his high school band and remembers wanting more opportunities to perform.

"I was talking to some of my band teachers," he says. "They looked at me and they were like, 'I'm sorry but there is nothing other than the concerts that we play.' So I thought to myself, 'Well, I have a little bit of musical background and some free time and I might as well start my own little band and we can just perform here and there.'"

That's how the Student Symphonic Orchestra of Fairfax was born. It started with 12 members, mostly Matt's friends and band mates. Eighteen-year old Michelle Bui, now a Virginia Tech freshman, was one of them.

"Matt is one of my very good friends so I did it as a friend, but also because I love playing the violin," she says. "It's an opportunity for me to relax and express my creativity."

Matt Martz started the orchestra so that he and other students would have more opportunities to perform.

Student Symphonic Orchestra of Fairfax

Tenth-grader Lizzie Culberston, who plays French horn, joined the orchestra last year and hasn't missed a Sunday rehearsal⁵ since.

"First of all I get to see all my friends on Sundays, which usually I wouldn't get to," she says. "Plus, I get to play music, which I love to do. And we're playing really good music, too, so, it's really fun."

The Student Symphonic Orchestra now has more than 30 members and has just celebrated its first anniversary.

Sixteen-year old Nicholas Black is one of the newcomers. The violinist joined the ensemble⁶ a few weeks ago after seeing an article about it in a local newspaper. Nicholas says he likes that the music he plays with Martz's group is more challenging than what he usually performs with his school orchestra.

The student orchestra started one year ago with 12 aspiring musicians.

"The music here is more complicated and harder, but I think it's partly because it's also with woodwinds and brass⁷, basically with a band," Black says. "At school we do just strings⁸. We don't have a complete orchestra. This orchestra here adds a lot more challenge. I would actually like to major in music, so this is a kind of a step forward in that direction."

Mentoring⁹ others

At 13, oboe player Kanika Sahi is the youngest member of the orchestra. 

"I've never played anything like that before," she says. "They just show me how to be better, different techniques of playing and stuff like that."

Having musicians of different ages and abilities is not a problem, according to orchestra founder¹⁰ and conductor Matt Martz.

"I try to keep them in groups," he says. "If there is a player who hasn't been playing for very long, I try to keep them next to the section player, or leader as we call it, that has been playing a while so they can always ask questions say, 'Hey, I don't know what that means,' or 'How would I play this?' So they get that connection right from the person next to them."

Matt now attends college in another city. But, as his mother, Carol Martz, explains, the orchestra's rehearsal brings him back to town every weekend.

 

The Student Symphonic Orchestra now has more than 30 members.

"This is one of his top priorities," she says. "He has learned to be more organized. He just doesn't skip Sunday night orchestra ever. He loves it and he really feels he's doing something for the community."

Community support

The community support, Matt says, is what keeps the orchestra going. It presents free performances in the local church where it rehearses, and receives donations from the audience.

"In our first concert, we made $1100, which was fantastic," he says. "That helped pay for a lot of music that we had purchased. Then this last concert in January, we made over $1500, which is just incredible. So it's growing. We can see that people are really liking¹¹ what we're doing.

Matt Martz hopes the Student Symphonic Orchestra of Fairfax will become even more popular and grow.

He knows someday he might leave the group and move on with his own musical career. He hopes somebody else will take over and keep the orchestra together. But for the time being, Matt is focused on attracting more talented musicians and presenting a wider variety of music.
 

1 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

4 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

5 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

6 ensemble   

n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果

参考例句：

• We should consider the buildings as an ensemble.我们应把那些建筑物视作一个整体。
• It is ensemble music for up to about ten players,with one player to a part.它是最多十人演奏的合奏音乐，每人担任一部分。

7 brass   

n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器

参考例句：

• Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。

8 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

9 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。