Zachry R. performs a variety of folk songs and modern compositions.

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Russian Sailor Dance (Russian Folk Song)
The Handbell Choir by Cornelius Gurlitt
Monster Truck (Start Your Engines) by Wendy Stevens
Lightly Row (German Folk Song)
African Safari by Wendy Stevens
Ocean, Ocean by Nancy Faber and Crystal Bowman
The Crawling Spider by Crystal Bowman My Pony (German Folk Song)
Forest Drums by Nancy Faber
​Daredevil (Start Your Engines) by Wendy Stevens

While our faculty is well known for their teaching ability and experience, you might not know that many Orpheus teachers also regularly perform as professional musicians at the highest levels! For instance, Douglas Stefaniak, Senior Guitar Instructor at Orpheus and Artistic Director of Pathways Through Music, recently had the opportunity to perform with a professional orchestra in the opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. Mastering his part was a challenging but rewarding process for Doug, and he had many great takeaways from the experience.

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs​ is an opera that originally premiered in 2017, and has since received recognition for its rich, inventive original score, even winning the 2019 Grammy for Best Opera Recording. In 2022, the Austin Opera, Atlanta Opera, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City teamed up to create a new co-production of the piece, with performances featured in all three cities.

To find a guitarist up to the task, the Austin Opera asked for a recommendation from the University of Texas' guitar program. As it turns out, yet another all-star Orpheus guitar instructor, Jeremy Waldrip, was initially recommended! Jeremy ultimately decided not to take the part however, and offered it to Doug instead.

After coming onboard, Doug only had two months to learn the opera's music. With his guitar part being primarily featured throughout (Steve Jobs' favorite instrument was the acoustic guitar), Doug had to master 50 pages of sheet music! On top of that, some of what the composer had initially written for the guitar wasn't actually physically possible to perform, which led to a process of lightly reworking the composition to make it playable.

Preparing for the performance was a huge task, but Doug relied on his prior experience and many of the practice methods that he regularly teaches his own students at Orpheus Academy. To begin, Doug first spent a couple weeks simply going line by line through the sheet music, writing in fingerings and planning his approach. He then broke the piece up into smaller sections and played through each very slowly. Over time, he gradually sped up his pace and started connecting different movements together. In the month leading up to the opera's first show, Doug was practicing around 6 hours a day on average!
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The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, as its name suggests, deals with Jobs' personal and professional relationships, as well as his growth as a person. It can also be considered a "modern" opera, and beyond the orchestra and Doug's guitar part, the music incorporates electronics, sampling, and various sounds from Mac computers and other Apple software. These additional elements were integrated in an improvisational way, which meant that despite all of Doug's preparation and practice, he still had to really listen to what was going on around him and often adjust his playing on the fly!

​Certain sections of the music felt more freeform and less metric, and there were other moments where Doug had to build in silence or pause for serious moments or dramatic effect. The show was also 90 minutes long with no intermission, and required almost every area of guitar technique, including mixed meter, tempo changes, arpeggios, chords, single-line melodies, alternate tuning, and multiple movements exclusively made up of harmonics.

The Austin opera shows ran over three days, and ultimately proved to be a big success. In fact, Doug's performance was so well received that he was also offered to take on the same part for the Kansas City production! Doug was flown out to Kansas City and put up in a hotel next to the theater venue there just a few weeks later, where he only had 2 or 3 days of rehearsal with the opera company before opening night. Even with such a quick turnaround, Doug again excelled during his performance and was highly commended by the opera's composer afterwards.

This was Doug's first time playing with a professional orchestra, and he wants to build this kind of experience and what he learned into his own future work and teaching. Doug has since been offered a part in a West Side Story production (that he had to turn down), and might be performing in a production of Sweeney Todd soon as well! He's fairly certain that he will be considered for additional guitar parts affiliated with the opera/theater companies and people he worked with, and has also been collaborating with a composer from the Austin-based orchestra to utilize their compositions in chamber music performances.

Doug continues to be an incredible teacher at Orpheus Academy, working with guitar students to improve their technique and inspire a life-long love of music, creativity, and self-expression. He is interested in working with other local composers, and has been enjoying performing as a duo with another great Orpheus teacher, Mackenzie Hoffman!

For others interested in pursuing music professionally or simply elevating their own playing, Doug's advice would be to always remember the importance of preparedness. Doug wasn't initially sure what gear to bring or what he should learn ahead of time for the first The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs rehearsal, and so he simply did and brought with him as much as he could. He maintained this level of preparation throughout the whole experience, and a backup battery he brought ended up saving the day when his first battery died in the middle of a Kansas City performance!

​Doug also learned the level of expectation that comes with playing with a professional orchestra. He emphasizes though that regardless of who you are collaborating with or how difficult a piece may be, you should always remain confident in your voice and trust in yourself and your ability. The only thing you can ultimately control is your own practice and readiness, so make sure that you can say "I did as much as I can" when working on something important.

At the end of the day, you should believe in what you've already done and what you can do. Trust the core concepts you've learned and your own abilities, and put yourself out there! Introduce yourself to others! The more connections you make and people you know, the more they will turn to you when exciting opportunities (like performing in a professional opera!) come up.

I like playing music because I can play songs that I listen to. I like to play for my friends and family. I am looking forward to learning more songs with Mr. Vijay.
- Nora

I am happy to nominate Nora for student of the month. Nora started out strong in 2022 by completing the 30 days of practice challenge, where she practiced every day for the entire month of January! This is just one example of what Nora brings to the table as a musician: she is always improving and never backs down from a challenge. I look forward to her upcoming concert, where she'll showcase her versatile musicianship by playing selections ranging from Broadway music and movie soundtracks to rock and Spanish flamenco music. Keep up the great work Nora!
- Mr. Vijay

I love music because it allows me to function during daily life and it inspires me. I listen to music constantly throughout the day and I don't know what I would do if I couldn't easily listen to music anywhere I am. I enjoy discovering new music as well as progressing through songs or discovering new things on the guitar.
- Gus

Gus has worked so diligently at the guitar this year. He made his high school’s most advanced ensemble as a freshman, and he earned highest marks at this year's UIL competition. The judge there said he had the best tone production of the day, and Gus will go on to compete at a state-wide level. His hard work has shown awesome results and Gus should be proud! 
- Mr. Trevor

Klondike: Johnny, how did you find out that Mabel and Lizzie also took lessons from me, is it because I told you or did you find out at school?

Johnny: I knew that Lizzie was and then Lizzie told me that Mabel was playing.

Klondike: Got it. Yeah, because you and Lizzie come on the same day, so you kind of sometimes see each other at Orpheus, huh? Johnny, did you want to play something for everybody? I am just so proud of you for your own composition. Would you mind sharing your composition with them?

Johnny: Well I made up this song, and Klondike thinks it’s really good.

Klondike: And what's it called?

Johnny: “Lurk.” [plays song]

Klondike: I love that because you play so many cool different things on the guitar with slides and harmonics and everything.


Klondike: Lizzie, did you want to play a piece, or just show us the chords you know how to play? Because I think that's something super cool that I didn't even teach you, you went to a summer camp and you learned your chords. Or any piece you want to play.

Lizzie: [plays song]

Klondike: That was awesome, that was a great start. What was that piece, Lizzie? 

Lizzie: “Joy to the World.”

Klondike: “Joy to the World,” awesome!


Klondike: Let's talk about what we want to do as a trio since it's super cool that you guys already are in the same classroom. And then of course we can all play together in the Orpheus Friendship Concert. There's so many different choices of what kind of cool music we can play together, and I want to get everybody's opinion so I can know which type of songs to pick for you.

So one choice is, we could have you all play on guitar some of the songs you already know. For example, you could do “Ai Bolubolum” and we could have one of you playing the melody, another one of you playing the bass, and another one of you playing chords, just like in a rock band. So you'd all together make it sound like a bigger song. And then you could play it again and a different person would play the melody. So that would be with known songs.

Another possibility would be to do popular music. Music by The Beatles or music by, I don't know, Ariana Grande or some other artist that everybody here likes their music.

And a third option would be to do songs from a movie, like sometimes my students like the music from Coco, or sometimes they like the music from a TV show that they all are into, or sometimes they're all into Avengers or something like that. 


Klondike: Johnny, is there a song that you would like to do that would sound really cool with three guitars playing?

Johnny: My best guess would be like a national anthem or something.

Klondike: Well you've all done different national anthems and that's a really good idea. So Mabel and Lizzie could play the accompaniment while you do the Russian national anthem, and then you and Mabel could do the accompaniment while Lizzie plays the Canadian national anthem, and then while playing the German national anthem.

You could do your own little national anthem project for your school, and that would be a pretty cool project. Do you know why? Because you'd also be teaching all your classmates about what flags they have and where those countries are on a map and stuff like that. So you could basically be teaching geography, I bet your teacher would love it if you would do that.


Klondike: Does anybody else have a song they'd like to suggest that we could do?

Johnny: What about “Ode to Joy?”
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Klondike: “Ode to Joy” is a great example, yeah we could do “Ode to Joy.” And you might not be playing the melody because it would be very boring if everybody's playing: [plays just melody]. But if it sounded more like this: [plays melody, bass, and chords], that sounds a lot cooler doesn't it? Sounds more like a symphony.

Mabel: What about “Ai Bolubolum?”

Klondike: I think that's a great idea. So “Ode to Joy” gets a vote, “Ai Bolubolum” gets a vote.
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Music brings out the joy in me. 
- Jonah
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I would like to nominate Jonah for student of the month! I'm very proud of Jonah's hard work and his resilience in every new challenge he encounters. His listening skills have improved so much and it's so wonderful to see how his attention to detail develops with every new piece we work on. He is always open to performances or trying new approaches when difficulties arise, and he always leaves a smile on my face after every lesson! I can't wait to see how he keeps growing musically!
- Ms. Gloria

It's hard to believe that 2022 is already here, but a new year is always a great time to set new goals, especially those of the musical variety! To help our students get the ball rolling on their musical goals for 2022, we put forward a series of "Would You Rather?" questions for them to answer. We received a lot of great responses that clued us in to the interests and priorities of our students, and we're excited to share them with you now!

To help kids think about their preference and goals in relation to composing and performing we asked: Would you rather...

• Be a talented songwriter who can’t play an instrument or sing?
• Or be a great musician who can’t write their own songs?​

Asher S.
Asher seems to value composing above all else. In her opinion,"songwriting is the most important part of guitar. "

Miller F.
Miller prefers the act of playing over songwriting, and simply stated that it was "because I want to be a musician."

Nora U.
Nora, who specifically requested that we mention her nickname, "Eating Machine," also prefers performing to composing.  Her reasoning for this is "because if I write songs then I can't play them."

Louisa B.
Louisa seemed saddened by the idea of being unable to play her instrument, and said she wouldn't want to just be a talented songwriter "because my guitar practice would go to waste."

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​Sharing music with others is an important part of the process of learning any instrument, so to help kids think about their performance goals we asked: Would you rather...

• Play a song for your family?
• Play a song for a group of people you don't know?

Kaleigh X.
Kaleigh is more interested in playing for people outside of her family as she wants to share her talent with others and demonstrate what she's musically capable of!

​Corban M.
Corban "would feel more comfortable" playing a song for her family than people she doesn't know, and would prepare for the performance by practicing before dinner.

Eloise F.
Eloise "loves singing in front of new people," and said she'd rather perform in front of a group that she didn't know.

Louisa B.
Louisa would rather play a song for her family. In her words: "I know them better and I get stage fright. Ahh!"

Sloan H.
​Sloan also preferred to  play a song for family.

Playing music with others is a wonderful experience for a musician at any age or skill level, which is why Orpheus offers group Musicianship classes and many ensemble opportunities. To help our students think about their collaborative goals we asked: Would you rather...

• Play music alone?
• Or play with a group?

Louisa B.
Louisa would much rather play with a group. She said, "I would like to play music with my friends" and that by playing with others the performance "sounds more full like the actual song." Louisa does enjoy playing alone though, and likes that she doesn't "have to stop and wait for everybody to start."

Lizzie D.
Lizzie prefers to play music alone, but didn't specify why.
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Corban M.
Corban thinks that "it would be funner to play in a group," and likes the collaborative process and sharing the spotlight with others. In Corban's own words: "If I make a mistake it is covered up-ish." At the same time, Corban enjoys the "freedom in picking what the songs are" when performing alone.

Johnny K.
Johnny unfortunately hasn't had the chance to play with a group before, but would very much like to. While he feels that playing music alone "is peaceful," he really likes "the sound of two or more people playing" together.

It's important for young musicians to begin to gauge their priorities, and to also think about how they can put a plan in motion to accomplish their goals. We asked: Would you rather...

• Play one song perfectly?
• Or play five songs just okay?

Alex W.
Alex definitely seeks a challenge, as he believes learning "the five songs just okay would be easier" and therefore would prefer to play one song perfectly. 

​Louisa B.
Louisa had an interesting response, and said that "there's no way (to learn a song perfectly), nothing's perfect." Instead, she believes the option of five songs just okay would be better than one.

Asher S.
Asher would rather play one song perfectly, and says this is because "I can already play five songs just okay." When asked about her plan of action, she says she would perfect a song "by practicing a lot and working hard!"

Nora U.
Nora also recognizes the importance of "practicing a lot and working hard," but says she would rather strive for perfection "because I could be famous from my song."

Conley R.
One song played perfectly is more appealing to Conley because "it sounds better."

Landon H.
Landon thinks learning five songs just okay would actually be a great starting point rather than an end goal, as "you can learn from your mistakes and make it better."

Presley S.
Presley would value playing one song perfectly because it would make her feel happy, and has a great multi-step plan to achieve this goal! She says she would "get help from her teacher, practice, listen to a recording and follow along," and would try each part of the song song by itself.

Ben loves playing violin and making music because he thinks music is beautiful. He likes the way the sounds follow a specific order and pattern.
- Ben

Ben is 7 years old and is in his second year of playing violin. He is bright and silly and also very focused. Ben has been playing violin frequently and is currently playing songs in the middle of Adventure Through Sounds, Book 2! Now, he's memorizing his songs and really enjoys playing for an audience. Keep it up, Ben!
- Mr. Xavier

Music is very interesting and I really like the way it makes me feel while making music.  
- Martha

I'm so proud of how hard Martha has been working in her lessons! She's exhibited great curiosity and creativeness in her piano studies. Keep up the great work!
- Mr. Mike