As the school year comes to a close, we’re saying goodbye to our senior students in band and choir. The arts are an important part of Barlow, and to honor our musical peers, we were able to get a few of them to answer questions about their time at Barlow as well as their future.

Rilyn Quirke, who has been in a school band for seven years, plays the french horn in Sam Barlow’s Symphonic and Stage Bands. 

What’s your favorite part about band? 

 “My favorite part about band is the family we have built and how much fun we have making music.” 

What are you doing after high school?

“I’m going to Simon Fraser University to study Biomedical Physiology and play basketball.”

Do you have any advice to future band students  

“Stick with it, you can find your best friends in the band!”

Hannah Burk is a clarinet and saxophone player in Barlow’s Symphonic and Jazz bands. After she graduates, Hannah is planning to attend Western Oregon University to study education. 

What was your favorite part about Band?

“Probably the downtime. Long bus rides to and from events, meeting at ungodly hours of the day, helping dress each other for events. It’s in these breaths of random free time that the strangest things happen.”

How did covid change your band experience?

“It was powerful. To play alone for so stinking long really emphasized how special it is to come and play together.”

What was your favorite memory from Band? 

“There is no single memory that tops all others, but a favorite is from when we were on the plane coming home from our Anaheim trip. The plane got delayed two hours, and we’d noticed an hour in that one of our tuba players had fallen asleep while we were waiting to take off. We woke him up and proceeded to gaslight him into believing that he had slept the whole two hour flight home. He’d asked why we were on the ground to which we replied that it was because we’d just landed. To sell our point, we told him he was a really loud snorer which he immediately apologized for. This back and forth went on for about a minute before he checked the time, realizing we were full of crap.”

Emmet Montgomery, a piano and percussion player, is in Sam Barlow’s Symphonic and Jazz Bands. 

What was your favorite part of Band? 

“Going to state for symphonic band with my best friend and jamming with my buddies in jazz band.”

What made you sign up for Band?

“Passion and love for musical art”

What is your advice to other band kids?

“Enjoy it and work hard while you’re in class and it’ll all pay off tremendously”

Grayson Carter is a senior choir student. After he graduates he is going to major in Music Education at the University of Oregon. 

What made you sign up for choir? 

“The environment Mrs. Schroeder created always had people talking about it during freshman year forecasting, that environment is the same reason I stayed.”

How did Covid change your choir experience?

“It made me more passionate about it and wanting to continue with it because of how dedicated Schro was.”

What was your favorite part of choir?

“Most definitely going to Hawaii for a festival!”

Aayla Karlgaard is a senior in both Sam Barlow’s Concert and Barlow Sound Choir. She’s been in a school choir for the past four years and hopes to continue it going into college. 

What made you sign up for choir?

“I love singing and wanted to sing with other people and get the experience.”

What was your favorite choir memory?

“Gifting Bill his piano bench with all of our signatures”

What are your plans after you graduate?

“I’m going to University of Oregon to study Human Physiology.”

Hannah Guilleux is another senior in both Sam Barlow’s Concert and Barlow Sound Choir.he’s been in a school choir for the past 13 years, and her favorite part of being in a school choir is “…feeling connected to everyone through our singing.”

How did Covid change your choir experience?

“We didn’t get to sing with each other in person, meaning that the connection between all of us felt thin, but I think we grew stronger as a choir when we started coming back from Covid and conquering all the restrictions that were put in place.”

What is your advice to anyone in choir?

“Don’t be afraid to put your voice out there; it was made to be heard!”

What are your plans for after you graduate?

“I will be attending Oregon State University to complete a bachelors degree in chemistry!”