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Arts & Entertainment

Whiz Kids: "Controlled Chaos" Brings Hommocks Orchestra the Gold

Hommocks Chamber Orchestra and Hommocks Camerata Orchestra won gold medals for their performances at the NYSSMA 2011 Majors Festival.

Two orchestras of took home the gold from this year’s New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Majors Festival.

Both Hommocks Chamber Orchestra—which consists of 46 7th and 8th graders—and the newly created Hommocks Camerata Orchestra—which consists of 38 6th and 7th graders—played at levels that are generally only seen in high school musicians.

“It was the first time that the middle school has ever competed at this high of a level,” said Hommocks Chamber Orchestra Conductor and music teacher Andrew Sussman, who explained that the orchestra received the judge’s highest honor—Gold with Distinction.

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Gold with Distinction is used by judges to show additional recognition for a polished performance.

 “It is a personal best,” he said. “I have been teaching orchestra for 18 years. I’ve taken kids and gotten gold medals before but I’ve never taken a middle school orchestra to [perform at that level,] and certainly have never gotten Gold with Distinction at that level.”

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Sussman and Hommocks Camerata Orchestral director and teacher Janine de Nigris oversee five orchestras—over 100 students—at the middle school and he credits the elementary program with providing a good foundation.

“When you have a really good [elementary] program, the kids love it, and slowly but surely the quality comes up just a notch,” said Sussman.

Students in the two orchestras arrive before school to practice as a group and, additionally, practice for hours at night.

“They are volunteers. The students understood the urgency in needing to learn,” he said, continuing, “They learn not because we tell them that they must, but because they want to see improvement and sound good.”

Explaining that the orchestra is a tool of empowerment for kids, attracting the interest of parents and siblings, Sussman noted that in some families, there are multiple siblings involved in the orchestra program.

When asked what made this group different than other years, Sussman replied, “Every year we just keep refining the process.”

“We have terrifically dedicated kids. Janine and I work really well together. This is one of those years where just everything clicked.”

The Hommocks Middle School orchestral program began some 25 years ago by , and was combined with the high school, until it grew too large. Sussman, and later de Nigris, were brought in to manage a middle-school-only program.

“Now, it is almost a strings empire there,” said Sussman. “From grades 3-12, we have over 900 kids playing string instruments. At the middle schools, we have about 165 kids in three grades 6-8 (an estimated 10 percent of the student body).”

Sussman said that at the coaxing of de Nigris, he enrolled his chamber orchestra in a higher-level competition. “It was a little bit nerve-wracking to [play at that level],” he said. “They have to work as a team and follow the conductor. It is terrific music for them because it is all geared toward creating orchestral players—someone who listens and watches, and who is aware of the sounds from other people around them. That’s something that we strive for.”

The orchestra's next concert will be held at the Hommocks Middle School Auditorium on May 17 at 7:30 p.m. He and de Nigris will—for the first time—try to combine all of the middle school orchestral students for Dance of the Tumblers by Russian composer Rimsky Korsakov.

“It is a little [ambitious,]” he said, “Controlled chaos, I call it.”

Editors Note: An earlier version of this article stated that there were about 100 kids playing string instruments in grades 6-8; that number is actually 165.

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