Early in the morning, stuffed between the theater and the athletics wing, M-hall chimes with the sounds of brass and woodwinds. Or, rather, it would, if they weren’t all outside marching. Even while the pandemic cuts the effective class size in half, a more wooden set of instruments prepares for upcoming performances. The orchestra is still going strong despite the new restrictions, and heading off the violin sections, senior Cayden Gonzales also continues to stay chipper.

“Orchestra is one of the most amazing programs to ever exist,” Gonzales said. “LSE’s orchestra program is great and Mrs Delaney is a fantastic teacher. I really get along with her and she’s so nice to everybody.”  

Traditionally, the orchestra plays about three performances a year, but in 2019-2020, snow days permanently postponed planned and practiced performances for the winter, and the spring performance was dampened by the sudden quarantine due to Covid-19. Still, the orchestra has plenty of students still participating as a class daily, enough that freshmen and upperclassmen are in separate groups. 

It’s important to think of the right group when speaking of the orchestra. “I feel like people don’t always think about orchestra like they kind of merge it in their head with the band. And while band and orchestra can sound amazing together, they are two separate entities.” 

You’ve probably seen the marching band, practicing out in the field at seven in the morning. Big brass instruments playing along with smaller and less brass instruments. The orchestra has none of that. Gonzales represents the highest section – the violins, and is joined by the deeper sounding violas, chellos, and basses. 

“I came to love the violin because I love all, the, like, when they have the melodies and they’re going up real high I like doing that, though the basses and cellos definitely and violas also really round out the bottom of the frame, and it’s cool because I love when they when they pass the melody to each other.”

Outside of orchestra, Gonzales is a loveable chatterbox. “I am known for being the person that doesn’t shut up, though I gave myself that name,” Gonzales said. “If someone is just as talkative as me, it goes one of two ways. We either clash because we keep interrupting each other, or we get along, because we’ll constantly be like, speaking about one thing and then jumping to another thing on a tangent. And a good example of someone in this building that I have that kind of relationship with is Mrs Anthony.”

Aside from that, Gonzales spends time working on mechanical projects, most recently collecting and repairing a series of mechanical clocks, ranging all the way back to World War II. He plans to continue the interest in such mechanical things into a full time career.

“I hope that whatever you write will be eloquent and make me look interesting and not a complete and total nerd, even though I am.”