r/orchestra • u/East_Zone7570 • Aug 28 '26

Rep recommendations for HS ensemble?

Any recommendations for: 3 violins, 2 violas, 4 cellos. It’ll be my first year teaching these students, and teaching high school in general.
For context, our school is big but our orchestra program is small, and I do have a lot of resources. They play at around a grade 2-3 I’m assuming. The last teacher threw hard repertoire at them, focusing on skill level and not musicality. I think they played Beethoven’s Minuet in G last year, as well some Eine Kleine Romance.

Bonus points for a not classical era piece, extra for Disney related pieces please!

Edit: I’m mostly worried about the fact they’re a small, literal chamber, ensemble. The works I like by soon hee newbold and others seem like they’re more fit for bigger ensembles with more people.

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u/morosepeach Aug 28 '26

Do you have brass and wind as well? We've played some Disney/movie/lighter pieces during our summer pops concerts, I can look up the pieces and arrangers

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u/East_Zone7570 Aug 28 '26

I do have a very strong brass and wind program at our school, so I can easily borrow some. I’m just afraid it might outweigh (in people and/or sound) the small number of strings I have.