I sat in the orchestra room on the first day of high school and looked around.

Paintings on the walls, dark green curtains, posters of famous composers. I’ve been in this room a few times before, but now I’m really here. I made it to high school and I finally belong. I’ll be coming to this room every other day for the next four years of my life.

A few days later, we were handed the pieces for our fall concert. One of the pieces chosen was called “And So It Goes” by Billy Joel. Usually, in orchestra, we just play classical pieces from composers I’ve never heard of, but this one is different. I know who Billy Joel is, but I’ve never heard this song before.

My teacher played the recording, the song had beautiful lyrics and melodies. It was a struggle to play at first, but I worked hard and I was able to do it.

It was written in 1983, but wasn’t released until 1989. It’s the last song on his album “Storm Front,” and it’s about a failed relationship that he had with Elle McPherson. Because of both of their careers, Joel knew the relationship wasn’t going to last. It reached #37 on Billboard when it was released as a single and stayed on the chart for 12 weeks and reached its peak date Dec. 1, 1990.

Many artists such as Jennifer Wanes, Tommy Emmanuel, Lily Clarke and Jori Chisholm have done covers of the song. Many schools have used the piece for choir and other groups. It was used for a montage scene for Miguel’s life in the show “This Is Us” in 2022. He said it was the song he was most proud of composing in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in 2022. Surprisingly, in an interview on the Howard Stern Show in 2010, Joel said that it was his least appreciated song.

My favorite lyrics from the piece are, “And every time I’ve held a rose, it seems I only felt the thorns.” I think it’s really interesting how he used a rose as a metaphor for a bad relationship even though roses are often a symbol of love.

I remember sitting nervously on the stage at my first high school concert. The bright lights showed the sweat from my hand on the fingerboard when I lifted my viola. It was the song I was most nervous about, but I was ready.

The concert went well and I was proud of myself and everyone else after.

To this day, I still remember my very first concert. I was 10 at the time and could barely even play with my bow. We mostly played short, two-line songs from the beginner book we had, as well as a one-page song with different parts for different instruments. 

My orchestra teacher is one of my favorite teachers. He was the first one to teach me how to play the viola. He came to my elementary school and taught us after school ended. I remember holding my viola in guitar position and plucking the strings while learning what each note was called.

All through elementary and middle school, I’ve watched people come and go, but someone that’s stayed with me the entire time is my best friend Victoria. In fourth grade, we both chose to play the viola because it sounded fun, but I never realized how much I would fall in love with it and how big of an impact it would have on my life. We always sit next to each other in class and practice together during access. We’ve made other friends from the orchestra but always remained close no matter what. 

Orchestra in middle school was not as fun as I expected. It made orchestra feel less like a fun hobby that I enjoyed and more like another class where I had to worry about my grades. The dress code for concerts was too strict and we were graded heavily on it. A few times a year, we would have playing tests where we played a short song in front of the whole class for a grade, and it made me really nervous. We also had to fill out practice logs each week and have our parents sign them, which was really stressful at times.

I decided to stick with it because all those years of learning and all the money my parents spent on renting my viola would’ve gone to waste, and I’m so happy I did.

When I started high school, I started enjoying orchestra more, and the teacher that taught me since the very beginning got to teach me again. He’s much less strict and makes it so much easier to do well in class. We no longer have to do playing tests or fill out practice logs, and concerts are much less stressful. 

Being in orchestra can give students a better growth mindset and help students better to respond to challenges rather than giving up. Joining orchestra was one of the best decisions I’ve made. I have so many memories of concerts and making new friends, and I hope to continue doing it after high school.