Dr. Gindin was inspired to start teaching from a very young age. She had always liked kids, even as a child, and started babysitting at 13. When she was teaching swimming at a music camp she realized that she could be teaching music. Dr. Gindin had wanted to start this class since she got here in February of 2019, but her plans were shut down due to COVID.
After school reopened, Dr. Gindin had to wait a year to make sure there would be enough students to make the class and then created it for the 22-23 school year.
This is not the first orchestra class that Dr. Gindin has taught. She even wanted to start another one! Dr. Gindin said that the most challenging parts of teaching are trying to maintain a challenging environment for the advanced groups while simultaneously providing easy material for the intermediates in the same class period. Her favorite memories are fearing the orchestra will bomb a performance but they end up playing perfectly. Dr. Gindin started an orchestra in Orange County and then taught at school before coming to Eagle Rock in 2019.
The orchestra class started in the 2022-2023 school year. Dr. Gindin started the class after splitting from the bands (symphonic, concert, intermediate, beginning instruments) run by Ms. Silverman. Before she created the orchestra, Dr. Gindin already had a few classes, She also helped run the bands. At that time (2021-2022 school year) string instruments, like violins, violas, cellos, and double bases, were allowed to be in the bands, even symphonic (excluding marching band). However, Dr. Gindin had been wanting to create an orchestra at Eagle Rock since there had been a recent influx of string players, namely violinists, so she decided to try and start it. Dr Gindin managed to get enough people to join to fill a beginner and an advanced class. Currently, the beginner class is open to anybody interested.
As stated, the class is composed of 2 periods: period two is for the advanced and intermediate, while Period Five is for beginners, and is open to everybody. The orchestra classes are open to all string instruments. We perform at the winter and spring concerts, the winter showcase (only advanced), the advanced perform with the Glendale youth orchestra, and go to competitions. Both also got to go to a fun event coupled with a competition such as the competition at Music in the Parks (at Six Flags) last year. Although we are pretty new we have many accomplishments such as the level of repertoire we have achieved from such a mixed group and winning excellent for a piece at the Music in the Parks competition.
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