Some Lawton Public Schools students are making beautiful music together this year after the three high school orchestra programs combined into one.

The 52 students meet at the Life Ready Center, taught by the district’s three orchestra teachers who say the programs were combined due to a number of factors: dwindling numbers in the high school program due to more electives available unless students are pursuing a music pathway; lack of a strings program at the elementary level, resulting in fewer recruitment opportunities; and a need for more orchestra teachers.

“You need two skilled adults to run the program,” said Jessica Foster, who teaches orchestra at MacArthur Middle and MacArthur High schools, noting that sometimes class time is taken to tune the instruments or repair strings when they break. “Instruments go out of tune. We are teaching young, energetic kids how to handle fragile instruments. No teaching happens because we spend time tuning instruments. Having someone on hand who knows how to tune will be helpful.”

Monty Booker, who teaches at Eisenhower Middle and Eisenhower High schools; Marty Dalton, who teaches at Lawton High and Central Middle School; and Foster say having one high school orchestra program instead of three will turn those negatives into positives.

Last year, Dalton had about 30 students in the high school and middle school programs, Booker had about 44 and Foster had 52 combined.

“Sixty kids is ideal for our kids here,” Foster said of combining resources. And, the more students, the better the sound. “You have to have a lot of people to produce a good sound.”

Another benefit to having three teachers in the classroom is that students may receive individualized attention or one teacher may work with an entire sectional. Booker and Dalton said one teacher can conduct classes while the other “walks the room”.

“They can help them if they are struggling with a passage or help them with fingering,” Booker said of the walkers.

All of that translates into a better experience for students.

“One benefit is a bigger group, obviously,” Dalton said. “There is a little bit more range of skills for individuals.”

Booker and Foster point to more competition among students due to a larger class, with some being exposed to more advanced students.

Students themselves point to increased competition as a positive result of the realignment.

“It gives us a chance to learn how others play around us. I can match the players around me,” said Casidhe Redway, who started playing in the orchestra in the seventh grade at MacArthur Middle School.

“You see how other people are playing around you and mix it in with how you play,” said Kolton Craig, who has played violin at Lawton High for several years.

Students also point out that the larger orchestra produces a better sound and allows students to concentrate more on their skills, thereby improving their play.

“There are more of us and you get a bigger sound, you don’t have to play out, you can practice more on dynamics,” Craig said. “There used to be 10 of us total at Lawton High. It was kinda hard to hear certain instruments. Now you are able to hear different instruments better. You have a better balance.”

“The biggest difference for me in being in this orchestra is that by combining them we have a larger orchestra in which we can live and improve as an orchestra, since as my partner said we all had different ways in which our teachers taught us. So now combining them is a little more refreshing since we can learn from the teachers of other schools,” said Karen Avitia, a senior at Eisenhower who has played viola in the orchestra for five years.

Students say having the same instructors, rather than three separate ones, has improved their techniques, including playing scales.

“We all learned music differently. Now we learn the same way, so it helps out with tempo and speed,” Craig said. “I never played scales that much. Now we play them before class.”

Another thing the teachers strive to accomplish is to make a unified orchestra.

“I don’t see myself as a Lawton High violinist; now we are LPS violinists,” Craig said.

Another goal the three orchestra teachers have is finding more venues for their students to play. Foster said she has a dream of LPS orchestra students playing in the lobby before a performance of the Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra.

“My goal for this program, I would love to have time to do a full orchestra with brass, woodwinds and percussion,” Booker said. “In the next couple of years, it would be awesome to have a full orchestra class.”