North Canton Hoover High School’s orchestra is composed of all grades. The orchestra has played multiple concerts throughout the year and like most other music education programs in Ohio, the orchestra is funded by OMEA. According to the Ohio Music Education Association’s (OMEA) website, the association was founded in 1924 by 14 band directors who wanted to promote band concerts for high school students. It is known as the Ohio High School Band Association (OHSBA). Later in 1929, it switched to including orchestra and choir programs. Today the OMEA programs are well-known within the music community and host a convention each year. The most recent one happened in Cleveland on February 6-8, 2025. Hoover High School’s orchestra got the amazing chance to perform at the convention, on February 8. This moment was an extraordinary moment for the orchestra to learn and experience more.
According to the Hoover Orchestra and Band director, Ronald Varn, When selecting the music, he created the program himself and had the orchestra perform at OMEA, he submitted a video of the Orchestra’s winter concert from last year, which was later picked by OMEA and Varn then made the program for the music the orchestra played at the convention.
Hoover junior and First Chair, Anna Helmuth, expressed that she was quite excited when she found out that the Orchestra was going to OMEA.
“I had gone to perform at OMEA a few years ago and I remember it being a really awesome experience, so I couldn’t wait to do it again,” Helmuth said.
The lineup of songs performed at the convention created a vibrant atmosphere, culminating in an impressive 45-minute concert that captivated the audience. Each piece was carefully selected to showcase a diverse range of musical styles. Varn had the orchestra start practicing the songs early on, having them play the same songs over and over again. As a director, Varn changes the way a piece is played, whether bowings or sometimes even notes. Since he does this, the section leaders always have to be on top of it in case something is changed and they need to point it out to the rest of their section.
“As first chair and section leader of the first violins, it was important that I finalized all the bowings in all our pieces,” Helmuth said. “As a section leader, it is my job to make sure that my section’s bowings match. So especially for OMEA, it was important that I communicated my bowings with my section. Spending extra time with the music, as well as providing additional help to any other students came into play for OMEA.”
Each song had its own difficulty while still sounding beautiful. The orchestra was well acquainted with each piece so they were prepared to play it at the convention.
Arriving in Cleveland via bus, the students made their way to the Huntington Convention Center. Once there, they located the designated area to store their belongings and had the opportunity to explore the various booths. They discovered numerous colleges showcasing their programs, items available for purchase, and even instruments that could be tried out.
When the time came to play the orchestra got onto the stage and started their program.
“The OMEA audience was filled with people, many of whom are music educators themselves,” Helmuth said. “This made the performance just slightly more nerve-wracking, since it felt like we were performing for professionals. However, the audience’s presence only added to the excitement of that day.”
The audience was filled with other musicians and educators there were also family and friends of the students.
At the end of the performance, the orchestra headed back to the room where they were keeping their items before they left back for the school. Varn didn’t notice any major reactions from the audience during the performance since he faced the orchestra, but when he did get feedback, it was very positive.
The convention was great and the orchestra played well, but the convention helped the musicians grow in skills and character.
“I am hopeful that the students had a great experience and look forward to our next time,” Varn said.
So as the orchestra continues to learn more about music and their instruments, they see just how much they can grow as musicians and students, allowing them to see more and understand more.
“Enjoy making music,” Helmuth said, “Dive deep into the repertoire, and embrace the different techniques and tones as you learn and practice. Also, practicing can only help you. Practice with intention, and you will get far with intention and hard work.”
