Often dubbed the “universal language”, the joy of self-expression through music has undoubtedly made lives better. Especially throughout the pandemic, playing instruments through a screen  could lead to a lack of growth, and many people lost the happiness from being in a group, so having Ms. Chen and Ms. Tu’s support has really helped two Arcadia High School (AHS) students, Serena Chin and Sabrina Lo, improve.

Although Serena and Sabrina are in different orchestra periods, they both have had the experience of working under Ms. Chen. Serena shares how Ms. Chen is always quick to point out mistakes and tell students how to improve, which not only helps them grow as musicians, but also how to understand the music. 

In the beginning of the period, she works with them on patterns and scales, like syncopation and dotted quarter notes, intonation, otherwise known as pitch, and dynamics, the varying sound levels within a piece. Serena is especially thankful for her spending time on these, since she is not very proficient within these aspects of music.

Serena is also thankful for Ms. Chen’s devotion to orchestra. She always seems to try to improve the orchestra as much as possible to build a memorable experience for the members. From the annual music camp to the performances themselves, Ms. Chen always does the most to make it an enjoyable experience.

Although Serena has never experienced being taught by Ms. Tu, through past interactions with her and previous experiences, she seems very kind and nurturing. 

Being in the third period orchestra, Sabrina is lucky enough to be under the baton of both Ms. Chen and Ms. Tu. Though it’s Ms. Tu’s first year of in person teaching, Sabrina feels that her smile and patience truly show what a great teacher she is. She greets her students each day with a smile and asks them how their week was. She is a very experienced musician. Not only is she capable of playing the violin, Ms. Tu is also the choir director and plays the piano, which Sabrina finds incredibly inspiring. Whenever the orchestra is misbehaving or not grasping the correction fast enough, Ms. Tu explains it nicely, rather than yelling at the students. 

A notable memory Sabrina had was during sectionals, which is when the orchestra splits into smaller groups to play. The violins had to play outside, and it was very hot, but everyone was under the roof’s shade, except Ms. Tu. However, she didn’t even complain, and she just taught them under the scorching sun. This truly showed how selfless Ms. Tu is! 

The orchestra director, Ms. Chen, embodies the perfect balance of being a respected teacher and being approachable to the students. While she always gets things done efficiently, she also makes plenty of jokes that make students laugh. She makes Fridays extra fun, when the orchestra does something called “Friday Shuffle”, where they can switch seats in our sections. Like Ms. Tu, Ms. Chen is also multi-talented with instruments. She plays the violin, piano, and can even play the drums! To Sabrina Ms. Chen’s love for her students needs no explanation, as you can see just by how many years she’s been teaching! Sabrina’s sister, who graduated in 2014, was also taught and conducted by Ms. Chen. 

Whether it be a good day or a bad day,  Serena and Sabrina always look forward to orchestra as a fun class, thanks to these two amazing teachers. They make music enjoyable, and the two girls don’t regret taking the orchestra elective at all! Thank you, Ms. Chen and Ms. Tu, for showing them and all the other students that school is full of joy, not just work!