Over Feb. 27-29, gold brass and steel strings captivated audiences day after day as a week of musical talent unfolded. Filling every available seat, family and friends arrived to witness the harmonies...
Students rush out of buses to set up their music outside the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn. As they assemble their stands, the wind rushes through, blowing their music all over. As some students attempt...
Esta Kamau, Features/Humans of West Editor
• November 4, 2022
The Crockpot Cook-off competition heats up as the orchestra program brings back its annual event on Nov. 5. After a two-year hiatus, the orchestra will reappear at Pattonville High School to compete for...
Watching her peers gaze over the instrument choices, fourth-grader Anushka Dharmasanam observed that no one was interested in the double bass. Viewing the opportunity to explore a different instrument,...
Honored by the state of Missouri, 40 students and 40 instruments are packed into one bus for a three-hour drive to the Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA) workshop conference at Tan-Tar-A Estates...
The Orchestra program is putting on one last ‘hurrah’ for the seniors by allowing them to pick the music for the Senior Reflection ceremony.
“I think that the songs we are playing at Senior Reflection...
As parents, friends and students poured into the gymnasium, they were met with the rhythmic pounding of the Marching Band. The strong metronome, meant to keep the marchers in synchronization, was captivating.
This...
After a 13 hour bus ride, 40 orchestra students–led by orchestra teacher Ed Sandheinrich–jazzed their way into New Orleans. From April 12 to 15, students toured the birthplace of jazz.
At Tulane...
Tyler Kinzy, Managing Editor-in-Chief
• March 5, 2018
From the morning of Jan. 24 through the evening of Jan. 27, music permeated the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Lake of the Ozarks. At the 80th annual Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA) conference, juniors...
![”The cello, I see it as an extension of myself. [When] I'm having a good day, I find it really easy to just sink into the music, [and] feel connected to the piece. If the piece I'm playing is happy, then I feel happy, and if the piece is slow paced or something sad, then I can feel that emotion. [Playing] forces me to be patient, and that has really improved the way I talk with other people, whether it's in an argument, or I'm trying to make a point. [To me], the most rewarding part is perfecting a piece, so that it's unique to you and no one else can replicate it.” - Isaah Kandula, 9](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/DSC_6652-Max-Chung-1200x798.jpeg)
![Members of concert band work to play the soaring melodies of "Crowns of Glory" by Jack Wilds during their winter concert. Because of the piece's difficulty, the band had to work together extra diligently to make it sound concert-ready. "[Band has] helped me [with] teamwork because it's not just an individual thing. The whole group has to be put together to make something amazing," Concert Band member and sophomore Ella Bruner said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/unnamed-3-1-1200x800.jpg)
![Parkway West Orchestra Students pose for a group picture outside the Grand Ole Opry. The Grand Ole Opry is an American country music stage that originally opened as a one-hour radio “barn dance” on WSM in 1925, and is the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. history. “[Country music] is kind of a hit or miss for me,” junior Chloe Kallaos said, “I don’t like the beer, trucks, girls in tight jeans kind. But the woman destroy man country, I like that kind.”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1000002867-900x675.jpg)
![After the winter concert for orchestra in high school, junior Anushka Dharmasanam learns a new piece, Movements III and IV of Britten’s Simple Symphony. Dharmasanam played the double bass for Missouri All-State Orchestra. “I was screaming [when I learned that I made it], and I was at my uncle’s house so we all hugged and celebrated,” Dharmasanam said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image1-2-900x601.jpg)
![With a violin cradled in his arms, junior Jason Wan performs at a fall orchestra concert. Wan, who practices violin for roughly an hour a day, was selected to participate in the All-State orchestra at the Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA) conference. “Every year you go to Mizzou and there’s a lot of people that audition so you have to stay there for a couple hours,” Wan said. “[At the conference] you rehearse for six to eight hours a day and then you perform on the last day. Some people practice their music before they get there.”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/IMG_0154-900x600.jpg)