Wearing concert black, six middle school students straighten their bow ties and smooth their dresses. Once settled, the ensemble tunes up their instruments and prepares to play.

The venue is unusual. It’s not a concert hall or an auditorium, though the audience is no less enthusiastic. As the first chords ring out, the sound reverberates and fills City Hall, much to the delight of the Winter Festival Youth Art Exhibition guests.

The annual exhibition takes place in the City Hall Art Gallery and is a celebration of visual art programs in our schools. During the public reception event and awards announcements, guests are treated to a concert by local music students, highlighting our schools’ performing arts programs as well.

Each year the artworks change and the ensembles do too. This year’s young musicians represented the Deerlake Middle School orchestra program.

The program is in its 20th year and was the first middle school strings program in the district. For the past decade, Lisa Pettit has stood at its helm. As the chorus and orchestra director at Deerlake, and a violinist herself, Pettit is eager for her students to experience as many public performance opportunities as possible. “We play at every event we can so that people know what we’re doing,” she said.

One of the most recent innovations to Pettit’s music programs is a weekly performance in the school’s courtyard for the student body, faculty, and staff. The band, chorus, and orchestra students are all able to participate and the response has been inspiring.

“When we first started, I was concerned about my little orchestra kids because there are so many people in the courtyard,” confessed Pettit. “But their peers were just really encouraging. They stood around and listened, they were dancing, they were clapping and cheering. It was a really good feeling to see that kind of support from the students who don’t play music.”

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