The Orchestra has expanded their reach to modern popular music this year. Director Pam Thiel created a new group called the North Covers.

This group would stray away from the traditional classical music normally found in an orchestra, and instead play more modern songs. This essentially is called a band, fully equipped with electric instruments.

Students from either orchestra, mainly Chamber orchestra, were encouraged to audition. The students were to play two excerpts, one from Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven and the other from Walk the Moon’s Shut Up and Dance.

“It was really exciting to be able to audition with more modern pop music since most, if not all, of the musicians here are classically trained, it’s a different experience to have,” sophomore McKenna Burke said.

Many auditioned, but juniors Adam Murphy and Karen Pan are the first violins, with senior Brendan Coulter and sophomore Josh Peatee as second violins. Sophomores Burke and Hannah Dorris are the violas, with junior Erika Chen and sophomore Claire Gray on cellos. Junior Miranda Futrell on the bass with senior Noah Jockett and sophomore Danny Lee on electric guitar, as well as freshman Ian Weil on drums.

“It’s cool to be in North Covers because it’s something that is very different from what we normally perform and we actually sound really good,” senior Brendan Coulter said.

The group practices every Friday after school until 3:30 at the PAC auditorium. They are working on not merely just playing the pieces, but also being comfortable with each other to perform them. They plan on having their first performance at Cat’s Meow from December 2 to December 3.

Karen Pan, News Editor