Bethel Park High School electrifies its strings
Freshman Jenelle Wu performs during an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal in the Bethel Park High School auditorium.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
Haydn Vitera rocks on during an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
Haydn Vitera assists a student with the strap for the electric violin she is playing.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
Violinists participate in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A violinist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
A cellist participates in an Electrify Your Strings rehearsal.
Considering that almost half a century has passed since “Sunshine of Your Love” was a hit, Bethel Park High School students’ grandparents just may have been cranking it up on the transistor radio way back when.
But that didn’t stop members of the school orchestra from enjoying a romp through the Cream classic while participating in an innovative approach to music instruction.
“The Electrify Your Strings program is sort of the strings program of the modern age,” professional violinist Haydn Vitera said during his visit to Bethel Park as artist-mentor, preparing the students for a March 22 concert to show off what they’ve learned.
Founded by Mark Wood, violin player with the progressive rock band Trans Siberian Orchestra, Electrify Your Strings has the goal of encouraging young musicians to think and act creatively.
”We’re showing them more than just playing the notes,” Vitera explained. “We are getting them excited about performance, and the difference between just playing a song and performing a song, making a connection with the audience and really learning how to move your body with your instrument.”
Bethel Park previously hosted Electrify Your Strings four years ago.
“The first time was such a great experience that we wanted to have it back again,” Stephanie Glover, high school orchestra director, said. “This is a whole new set of students. None of the students on stage have done this before.”
Gathering on stage for rehearsals were about 100 members of the orchestra, joined by some two dozen district eighth-graders for some selections. And unlike the standard setup, the violinists were standing instead of sitting, and they were very much encouraged to move to the music.
“Whether it’s this foot forward or that foot forward, it doesn’t matter,” Vitera told them as they prepared to play Journey’s “Any Way You Want It.”
“If you want to face that way, you want to go to the side, if you just want to tap your foot, no matter what you want to do,” he continued. “That goes for everybody. I don’t want anybody just standing there. Just kind of groove with it. Have fun.”
The motif agrees with Glover’s instructional approach.
“I like to kind of go outside the box, because we’re good at classical music and we learn a lot of the different time periods of classical music, but this is something that’s exciting to kids,” she said. “And I heard a lot of the parents are even more excited because they love the music. It’s of their era.”
More recent is “La Vibora,” a Spanish-themed original composition by Vitera and an integral part of the setlist.
”The kids have really, really taken to that tune,” he said, “and we’re going to do what I call a glorious arena rock ending on that one.”
An Austin, Texas, native, Vitera has a classical music background and has shown his versatility by playing country music with such artists as George Strait, Rick Trevino and the still-going-strong-since-the-’60s Asleep at the Wheel.
“I had the great fortune last April to play with Stevie Wonder,” Vitera said. “At one point, he turned to the strings section and asked somebody to improvise. So I got to rip out a solo that Stevie really dug. And it was something that I couldn’t have done if I hadn’t learned about improvising and about loosening up, but also that I couldn’t have done without the formal training that I got from my classical era.”
Despite his experience performing with the legends, Vitera took a down-to-earth approach to mentoring at Bethel Park, and the students responded to a high degree.
“They’ve done such a great job learning the music and helping with the event, because it takes a lot of work to put on something like this,” Glover said. “They’re awesome.”