Westview GOLD’s advanced strings section stood before the theater’s black curtains, as the violas swelled with the first note of the title theme of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, May 20. Orchestra president Liam Doran (12) said that while the section had rehearsed smiling for the piece, once they were performing on the stage in front of the crowd, the practiced smiles turned into real ones.

“We all looked at each other to start the piece, and I think the crowd’s energy got into the ensemble in a way it hadn’t during rehearsal,” Doran said. “Everyone seemed so genuinely present and happy to feel the music as we made it come to life.”

GOLD’s video game-themed show, “Press Start,” consisted of songs from games ranging from World of Warcraft to Minecraft to Mii.

GOLD started preparing for this show in early April with them choosing the theme and pieces. According to Doran, the theme was born from a desire to illustrate the beauty of music that often goes unappreciated.

“There’s some really cool, almost orchestral video game music,” he said. “We wanted to highlight how cool some of this music is, even though it’s usually considered background music and isn’t always recognized. We want to show that this music is really unique and has a lot of depth.”

Since orchestral arrangements for video game music are less common, some of the section leaders had to arrange their own music. For Doran, that meant weaving in violin, viola, cello, and bass parts into a piano reduction of Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ title theme.

“I pick the piano arrangement into five parts instead of being a single part,” Doran said. “As a bass player myself, I wanted to give my section a taste of the melody at one point, but I know that the bass just doesn’t project as well unless you go crazy high. So, I put it lower, but I also was mindful that all the other instruments are playing really soft. I had all of them play pizzicato, which is typically a softer sound, or just not play at that time to make sure that the melody would be clearly heard and not be overpowered by the accompaniment.”

Doran said that his favorite piece was the Animal Crossing title theme since he had made it and it had been adapted by the other musicians.

“I loved seeing the orchestra play something that I had arranged, and then the part that warmed my heart was seeing them have fun with it,” he said. “The violins and the violas all played pizzicato, [plucking the strings], at the beginning, and the original instrumentation is on a ukulele, so they held their violins like ukuleles and played them like that. That wasn’t my doing. It really got to me that they enjoyed playing this piece and they liked what I’d done.”

With the concert’s style of nonstop show, the emcees—including band president Pauline Onishi (12)—segued from one performance to another through skits that offered entertainment during transition time. Onishi said that while putting the skits together was challenging, they were able to smoothly weave the pieces together.

“Script writing is a very long process,” she said. “It’s difficult to get started, but once you start, you know what storyline you want and the different ways you can tie in the theme as well as the specific feature piece. For example, before the double reeds performed “Rosalina’s Observatory,” we had a skit related to Rosalina and Super Mario Bros. As a group of emcees, we were able to work through this together.”

The show also employed in-front-of-curtain performances to allow for preparation for larger groups behind the curtain. When the string orchestra played pieces while surrounding the audience in the aisles rather than being on the stage, the musicians couldn’t have notes with them, so they had to memorize them. Doran said that the orchestra had been well prepared for this show.

“This year, the string orchestra was really on top of it with memorizing,” Doran said. “I think part of that is because we had a lot of motivation from our younger members to practice the music, make sure they really understood it, and then rehearse just to reinforce what they already learned. That was a major success from us.”

Onishi said that she focused on keeping a stable mindset while working on the show.

“I’m really proud of us and proud that we were able to put on a really great production and show,” she said. “Show week is one of the most stressful weeks, especially this year since it was right after APs, but I learned from working on concerts that it really depends on how you have your mindset. It’s not gonna go exactly how you want it, but you’re going to have a good night.”

GOLD shows help demonstrate the wonder of music and build connections between people, according to Onishi.

“These concerts are really important to expose that there’s a lot of fun to music,” she said. “The audience is able to see the time and effort we put in this concert, [and the] musicians within our program get to dress up with their sections and really practice together. Through practicing and having fun, we’re able to be with people who bring out the best of us and make really cool music with them.”

As her final of eight GOLD shows, Onishi said that though she will miss performing, she has faith in the next generation of GOLD.

“Knowing that this was my final concert, it felt bittersweet,” she said. “But, I’m one hundred percent sure that our program is going to have great shows these following years, and I’m really excited to come back and watch them and see how they do it. This concert meant a lot to me, and it’s really great to be able to work with such skilled and talented musicians and put together amazing pieces.”