Southeastern High School Orchestra

The mission of the Hamilton Southeastern High School Orchestra Program is to challenge, inspire, understand, and represent through the art and communication of music performance.

Southeastern Orchestra Families,

All signs are pointing the the beginnings of Spring!! The weather is getting warmer, the birds are starting to sing, we've hit daylight savings time and ISSMA contest is just a few weeks away!

This time of year is always the busiest as all classes are preparing for ISSMA District and State Contest as well as auditioning students for the 25-26 school year and finally, wrapping up the school year. There is a lot of information in this newsletter and we will continue to send reminders out on Parent Square, however, please take a moment to mark your calendars with important upcoming dates and mandatory rehearsals and performances!

As always, we appreciate your continued support and encourage you to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have.

Heather Nieto, Director of Orchestras

Hamilton Southeastern High School

hnieto@hse.k12.in.us

Charles Kunz, Associate Director of Orchestras

Hamilton Southeastern High School

ckunz@hse.k12.in.us

The Camerata and Philharmonic Orchestras will be performing for our District Preview Clinic on Tuesday, April 1st. Please see the attached schedule. Students will perform in the LEO Auditorium and then move to the orchestra room for a clinic with Dr. Laurie Williams from the University of Indianapolis.

ISSMA DISTRICT PREVIEW CLINIC - APRIL 1, 2025

Hamilton Southeastern High School will be hosting the ISSMA District Organization Contest on Friday and Saturday, April 25th and 26th. We have requested that our HSE Philharmonic, Camerata, and Serenata Orchestras perform Friday night. However, we are not guaranteed a time/date until two weeks prior to the contest. For this reason, please make sure you have both dates on your calendar.

In addition to the performance, we will need volunteers to help this event run smoothly. Since we are a host school, we will have over 20 ensembles from around central Indiana coming here for contest between these two days. If you are able and willing to help out, please take a look at the Sign Up Genius below. We will make sure that if your shift ends up being during your musicians performance, that you have an opportunity to see them perform!

ISSMA DISTRICT ORGANIZATION CONTEST - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - 4/25, 26

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to perform at the Palladium this year with our Serenata and Symphony Orchestras! Please take a moment to read through the details linked below. Students will miss part of school that day and more information will be sent out soon!

HSE PERFORMING ARTS SHOWCASE AT THE PALLADIUM - APRIL 23, 2025

Hamilton Southeastern High School will be hosting the ISSMA District Organization Contest on Friday and Saturday, April 25th and 26th. We have requested that our HSE Philharmonic, Camerata, and Serenata Orchestras perform Friday night. However, we are not guaranteed a time/date until two weeks prior to the contest. For this reason, please make sure you have both dates on your calendar.

In addition to the performance, we will need volunteers to help this event run smoothly. Since we are a host school, we will have over 20 ensembles from around central Indiana coming here for contest between these two days. If you are able and willing to help out, please take a look at the Sign Up Genius below.

ISSMA DISTRICT ORGANIZATION CONTEST - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - 4/25, 26

The after school rehearsals for the Symphony Orchestra (SSO) are imperative to our success as an ensemble. After school on Wednesday is the only day that we are able to rehearse with the winds and two out of three of our pieces are with the winds. Please take a moment to review the schedule linked below with the SSO Rehearsal/Performance schedule for the remainder of this Spring. We ask that you refrain from scheduling doctor's appointments or other appointments so that we can continue in our tradition of excellence and move forward in the music.

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (SSO) FULL REHEARSAL / PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Please continue to help us provide snacks during rehearsal by choosing a day to sponsor! You can sign up with our the Snack Sign Up Genius.

Thank you to our Southeastern High School Orchestra Boosters!

Prior to our ISSMA State Quals contest, we will be brining in Mr. Randy Greenwell and Mr. Matt James to work with our full symphony orchestra. This is an outstanding opportunity for our students to get expert feedback in a semi-performance setting. While families are welcome to stay and take in the clinic, our "official" preview of our ISSMA State Quals repertoire will be at our Palladium performance.

Please take a moment to review the information linked below:

ISSMA QUALS CLINIC - APRIL 17, 2025

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to perform at the Palladium this year with our Serenata and Symphony Orchestras! Please take a moment to read through the details linked below. Students will miss part of school that day and more information will be sent out soon!

HSE PERFORMING ARTS SHOWCASE AT THE PALLADIUM - APRIL 23, 2025

Hamilton Southeastern High School will be hosting the ISSMA District Organization Contest on Friday and Saturday, April 25th and 26th. While the Symphony Orchestra will not participate in this contest, we will need volunteers to help this event run smoothly. Since we are a host school, we will have over 20 ensembles from around central Indiana coming here for contest between these two days. If you are able and willing to help out, please take a look at the Sign Up Genius below.

ISSMA DISTRICT ORGANIZATION CONTEST - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED - 4/25, 26

UPDATE

The Symphony Orchestra will be performing on May 2nd OR 3rd for the ISSMA State Qualifications Contest. We typically go to Warren Central High School for this event. However, we will not know the specific date, time OR location until roughly two weeks prior to the event. We ask that you please mark your calendars for the full weekend as we cannot always control what ISSMA gives us. This competition is with other high school symphony orchestras in the state of Indiana. Only eight orchestras will qualify to go on to finals. Every student's participation is important. Additionally, if we do end up going to finals, that will be held on Saturday, May 10th. We will know our time by Sunday, May 4th. Please make sure that all of these dates and times are in your calendar and you avoid conflicts. More information will be coming next week regarding our Wednesday, after school sectionals and rehearsals.

They Symphony Orchestra has advanced to State Finals 2 out of the last 3 years and our goal is to do so again this year! Only the top 8 orchestras in the state will qualify! Saturday, May 10th is the date and there is little room for flexibility in the time. Since we perform with the winds, it is important to remember that the Wind Ensemble often advances to Finals as well. The bands perform at Lawrence Central High School while the orchestras perform at the Pike Performing Arts Center. In fact, there are several bands/orchestras in the state who will be in this position. This is important because it means that ISSMA has to consider the performance time of each ensemble and include travel time for shared musicians. We ask that you keep Saturday, May 10th clear of conflicts, if at all possible.

A quick reminder that ALL students grades 9-11 in Camerata, Philharmonic and Serenata are required to submit an audition for the 25-26 school year. This is a graded assignment. The deadline for audition submission is Friday, April 4th! Audition details can be found through the:

Audition Packet 2025: HSE Orchestra

Happy spring everyone!

Our side-by-side concert went extremely well, and we were able to meet and greet some new 8th grade families. We look forward to connecting with these new families in the upcoming school year ahead. Currently we have continued to help with snacks for the Symphony Orchestra ISSMA rehearsals, but we still need your help! Please consider donating snacks or drinks by signing up on the sign-up genius:

SNACK SIGN UP GENIUS

We are also needing snack donations to help stock our concessions stand for the ISSMA District Organization Contest that we are hosting this year for April 25th and 26th . All snacks should be labeled with "Orchestra H128" and either "Concessions" or "SSO snacks". These can be dropped off at the CCA door 18 or sent in with your student. Individually wrapped snacks are great items for donations, such as chips, granola bars, candy, cookies or popcorn. Water bottles are very helpful as well.

The boosters are additionally working on planning a spring social event- stay tuned for more information to come!

If you would like to be more involved please feel free to reach out at hseorchestras@gmail.com

Thanks for your support!

Shobana Pandian, President

Southeastern High School Orchestra Boosters

We had over 50 musicians between solos and ensembles participating in the 2025 ISSMA Solo & Ensemble Contest. 16 moved on to the ISSMA State Solo & Ensemble contest and all received Gold with distinction! We are so proud of all of these students and the time they have taken to work toward their personal goals as musicians!

Please take a moment to consider signing up with a private lesson teacher. Private lessons give all students an opportunity to grow at their pace. We teach students everything they need to know to play their instrument and become musicians. However, private lessons allow students to have one on one time with a teacher who is an expert in their instrument and will hone in on each students strengths and weaknesses giving them additional time and practice. Currently over 40 of the Southeastern Orchestra musicians take private lessons with an addition 40 students requesting a teacher!

Take a moment to view the 2024 Private Lesson Teacher google sheet for updated private lesson teacher recommendations!

As your student progresses over the next four years, you may start to find the instrument they currently have, less adequate for some of the more complicated techniques that will be required of them. If you are interested in upgrading your instrument or purchasing a new instrument, we strongly encourage you to allow us to assist you in this process. I have been teaching strings for a very long time and it is important to me that you find a quality instrument at a fair cost.

While I am happy to help you obtain an instrument from any reputable place, I also encourage you to reach out to Encore Orchestra Strings at Paige's Music. I have worked with them for many years and strongly support the way that they have worked with our families and students over the years. I am happy to meet you at the store and help you there as well. Please let us know if you are interested in upgrading or purchasing a new instrument and we will do everything we can to help you!

You can visit the Encore Orchestral Strings website by clicking on the Encore icon.

As a reminder, due to new HSE District rules, we are no longer using any of our Remind accounts. From this point forward, we will be using Parent Square for communication with families. *Symphony Orchestra families, please note that there is an additional Parent Square class for the spring semester concerning the ISSMA State contest information, rehearsals, etc.