As a biannual tradition for the Archer music program, students are met with a week of rigorous practice. Tech week is when the orchestra and choir ensembles refine all of their hard work and prepare themselves to perform in front of an audience. While the culmination of the students’ labor is the concert itself, the tech week process is far more than just perfecting the students’ musical abilities.
Lilly Swigert (’30) is a group manager for the Middle C’s and a part of the middle school choir. During tech week, she said being a manager creates a bit more stress due to the constant outreach and responsibility to direct the choir; however, the stress is still manageable.
“It’s pretty stressful, but it’s nice to be somebody that other people can ask questions to,” Swigert said, “so it’s nice to be organized.”
This performance was Orchestra Director Hannah Murray’s second spring concert. She said tech week is always a busy time of year, especially since many members of the choir and orchestra participate in other extracurricular programs.
“It’s always really hard at this time of year to balance all of the things that are going on with sports and theater and dance and academics,” Murray said, “so I think it can be hard to find the time to make sure everything’s at the level that we know it can be at.”
Tech week requires students to stay at school as late as 7:40 p.m. — 9:30 p.m. on concert days — and often causes students to miss their last period class. However, Swigert said being able to eat dinner with her peers outweighs the stress of missing class or finishing work.
“It’s always been very stressful because you’re singing a lot, your voice is tired and you have to leave class early, so you miss work and always have to make it up,” Swigert said, “but it’s definitely more fun than stressful, because we eat dinner and we get to stay on campus later and be with our friends, which is always fun — to just sing and let go of all the stressors of school.”
Murray said spending time with her students during tech week is something she looks forward to, even when practice goes late into the night.
“I love the students in my ensemble, so it’s always a delight to spend more time with them. Sometimes when we’re here till 7:30, it just flies by because they’re … great people and great musicians,” Murray said. “Sometimes it’s wild to think we’ve just spent four hours together; I’m having a lot of fun. I really like the music we’re playing. I think they’re bringing a lot of energy to it.”
Freshman Serena Ho has been in orchestra since sixth grade. Ho said she enjoys tech week because it helps her grow as a musician in addition to providing an opportunity for her to get closer to her peers.
“Tech rehearsals are always very tiring because we have to stay extra late, but it’s always very rewarding,” Ho said. “I really enjoy fostering bonds with students across all other grades.”
Murray said during tech week, students learn when to switch from a professional performing attitude to a casual mindset, especially due to the various levels they perform at during practice.
“Each time that we go through a tech process, we do a run-through, and then we do a dress rehearsal; then we do a faculty show,” Murray said. “Each one ramps up the pressure, and so I think they learn a lot about how to comport themselves well on stage under varying degrees of pressure.”
Not only does the spring concert help to build musical skills and let students express themselves, but Swigert said it is also a time for students to explore who they are and become more comfortable in themselves.
“I knew I loved singing, but I’d never been in a choir before,” Swigert said, “so this music program really let me grow my interest and fully become the person that I am now.”
Ho said, over the years, tech week has become more comfortable for her, since this marks her eighth concert.
“Our community is really strong, and I really enjoy being able to strengthen bonds and create bonds with other students,” Ho said. “I feel like tech week is a great way to do that, even if it requires a lot of energy, and staying after school, I think it’s worth it in the end, and a lot of other schools should have that same community.”
