Park’s orchestra played its first concert of the year Oct. 28. The main gym was filled with pumpkins, ghosts and a baby doll to set the mood for the Halloween themed concert. Orchestra students fittingly came in costumes, ranging from pirates to teletubbies and dinosaurs.

Orchestra Director Kou Lee said they had less time to rehearse for this concert compared to previous ones.

“We started learning the music for this concert a week and a half after school started. Sometimes it can take three months to learn the material,” Lee said. “This (concert) was sooner than our previous concerts. Typically we’d have three or four months, but we only had two months before this one.

Even with the shortened time to learn material, Sophomore Magnus Smith said the rehearsal process was very enjoyable for him.

“The rehearsal process was still really relaxed, Kou made it a very enjoyable experience,” Smith said. “I really enjoyed playing in this concert and I hope to continue playing throughout highschool.”

Lee said that the hardest song to teach was “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”

“All the songs were really hard, there wasn’t really one that was easier than the others. They all took a lot of work. The hardest was definitely ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,’” Lee said.

Junior Mae Turman said she enjoyed playing “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” despite the difficulty.

“The hardest song was definitely the last one, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” but it was also my favorite,” Turman said.

Lee said he was pleased with how the concert went and how his students played.

“(The concert) went really well, my students always play really well,” Lee said. “I’m very proud of them.”

Turman said she also felt positively about the Orchestra’s performance at the concert.

“The concert went really well, rehearsing everyday and really going over the hard parts definitely set us up for success.”