The orchestra at SM West is just as busy as the band and choir.

Curtis Mulvenon is the orchestra teacher here at West. He also teaches orchestra at Westridge, working half of the day there, and half of the day here. He is known for making his class work hard.

“Mr. Mulvenon is a great teacher,” said junior Remy Dujakovich. “He teaches us a lot and gets us  playing the music really well, but we also have a lot of fun in class.”

Right now, the orchestra is practicing for their holiday concert, on December 3. They also have district orchestra in December and state auditions in January 2014. Some of the members will be playing in the pit orchestra during the musical on January 30 and February 1.

I asked junior Remy Dujakovich a couple questions about orchestra for this year.

What is going on in orchestra right now?

Right now we are practicing for our Christmas concert.

Which instrument do you play, and why?

I play the bass because my teacher wanted me to switch over from violin last year.

Do you have any competitions later in the year?

We are competing in Boston later on in the spring and then right after that we have the local state competition that we always compete in.

The local state competition is on April 16 at Blue Valley West HS. They also have a West Area Orchestra Festival, just like the choir, on May 1 in the West gym.