EDHS Orchestra and Sinfonia

We are excited to announce that we have a new director for our El Dorado orchestras! The following is a letter of introduction written by our new director, Gary Hung. We met with him Tuesday night and he is already enthusiastically preparing for the new school year.

Paula Parker & Christina Mueller

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Dear El Dorado Orchestra Students and Families,

I am pleased to introduce myself as the new Orchestra Director for El Dorado High School. My name is Gary Hung and I’m thrilled to be a part of El Dorado tradition and excited for the many opportunities that await the Orchestra music students at EDHS.

In 1998, I graduated from Rice University with a dual major in Bioscience and Violin Performance and in May 2002, I completed my Masters Degree in Violin Performance with a concentration in String Education/Pedagogy from California State University at Fullerton. As a violinist, I have performed in various concert venues through out United States, Europe, and Asia in both solo and chamber music capacities. Growing up as a product of K-12 orchestra program, I have held membership with local youth orchestras such as PYSO, CYMO, American Youth, and YMF Debut. These valuable ensemble experiences have helped me in my posts as second violin principal with the Galveston Symphony, section violinist with Woodland Symphony and a recent summer internship with the Cleveland Orchestra where I was chosen as one of the 10 violin finalists to receive the Josef Gingold Memorial Violin Fellowship Award.

For the past five years, I taught applied violin, music appreciation, strings method and directed chamber orchestra at both Santa Ana College and Cal State Fullerton. Functioning as the PYLUSD string specialist, I directed groups at Valencia High School and Bernardo Yorba Middle School. As the Recipient of Cal State Fullerton’s Teaching Grant for academic excellence, I frequently guest speak on string pedagogy seminars, guest conduct honor groups throughout Southern California and maintain a highly sought after violin studio where violin students continue to receive awards and accolades from SCSBOA, ASTA, SYMF, Junior Bach Festival and Certificate of Merit sponsored competition/examination annually.
Some of the specific strengths that I will be bringing to EDHS include expertise in training string players, selecting and directing quality orchestral music repertoire that piques the interest of students and gives them the most opportunity for musical growth. I am fully confident in my ability to program pieces that are well written and appropriately challenging. In selecting repertoire of varied genres and difficulties, I am skilled at sharing how to practice effectively while still providing students with a comprehensive musical curriculum that include, tone production, intonation, music theory, music history, musical sensitivity, and musicianship. In addition, I have always been an advocate at teaching my students about the importance of professionalism and maturity because the value of these lessons extends far beyond the music classroom.

I am very passionate about music and I truly love sharing this art with young musicians! I am very much looking forward to developing the EDHS Orchestral program and am committed to ensure that all participants in EDHS Orchestras have great technical skills, meaningful musical experiences, lasting memories, and above all, a great time!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions at ghung@pylusd.org I look forward to meeting all of you!

Sincerely Yours,
Gary Hung
Orchestra Director, El Dorado High School

Most of you have probably heard the sad news by now that this is Mr. McKinnell’s last year directing our orchestras.  Over the years he has poured countless hours into our orchestra program while continuing to perform with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra as a professional musician, tutoring private students, and working in the Class Act program.  He has certainly had his hands full, and as much as we hate to see him go, we can only be thankful for the wonderful gift he has given to our kids during their years learning from him.

This makes our time together at the banquet this Sunday all the more meaningful.  We are thankful for a wonderful response so far of 197!  I can increase our dinner order until Wednesday morning so call immediately if you still want to get tickets (714-854-9835).  During the program this Sunday we will enjoy our last concert with Mr. McKinnell, we’ll eat a delicious dinner, we’ll honor our graduating seniors, student awards will be given, and of course we will be giving a tribute of our appreciation and a fond farewell to Mr. McKinnell.  Don’t miss a minute of this wonderful evening!

If you would like to bring a card or note of appreciation to Mr. McKinnell, we will have a basket available to collect them on Sunday.  Also, seniors, we would like to have a display of your pictures.  We apologize for the short notice and ask if you can put a 5 x 7 or 4 x 6 photo in the orchestra mailbox by Friday.  We will give the photos back to you on Sunday.

Thanks again for being a wonderful, supportive group of parents and students this year.

With appreciation,

Paula Parker & Christina Mueller

The deadline to order dinner tickets for our end of the year Orchestra/Sinfonia banquet is tomorrow, Friday, May 30th. Tickets are $15 each and need to be purchased for each student as well as family members. Currently we have only received orders from 30 students and still need to hear from 44 more! This is very concerning and we urge you to get your orders turned in by tomorrow. If you have any questions about whether we have received your order, call or email Paula Parker (714-854-9835; bkwrmbuddy@aol.com.)

This year we will be using tickets for this banquet. You will receive your tickets when you arrive at the banquet. We will collect them when you go through the dinner line. (This will take care of the problem in past years with people forgetting to bring their tickets.) Don’t be left out of this delicious dinner provided by Blue Agave! Order your dinner tickets by tomorrow!

See you at the concert tonight! It’s at 7:00 p.m. (6:30 call time) at Yorba Linda Friends Church.

Dear Parents & Students,

My apologies for getting this information to you so late… Each year the El Dorado band produces a CD of their concerts. It includes the full orchestra pieces that we did with them. And I just discovered that if we would like to order these CDs, the deadline is today! The cost is $10.I am hoping we can extend the deadline until Saturday or Sunday. I believe the order will be placed first thing Monday morning. So if you would like to purchase one of these CDs, please email me at home: bkwrmbuddy@aol.com to let me know. Please DO NOT hit reply to this email or I will not receive your order in time. Also, I can’t promise that I can get the CDs, but I will do my best. We will most likely distribute them at our banquet on June 8th. Speaking of the banquet, thank you so much for all of the orders that have been coming in. It is so important that all of the students are represented by at least one family member, so if you have not responded yet, please send in your ticket orders (for both you and your student). We will have a delicious dinner, a wonderful concert, and a good time together so we hope you can all come.Finally, please send in your scrip orders. Your support in that would be greatly appreciated. And remember, you do not lose any money at all on scrip. You get the full amount of money to spend at the stores of your choice.

Week of May 12 schedule:

Monday – 0 Sinfonia; 5 PM – Orchestra; 6 PM no Sinfonia

Tuesday 0 – Everyone

Wednesday 0 - Sinfonia

Thursday 0 – Orchestra

Friday  0 – Sinfonia

Dear Parents and Students:

Below you will find the zero period schedule for this week, as well as tonight’s practice schedule.  For those students needing to review a concert for this semester, the Yorba Linda Community Symphony will be performing Saturday, May 10th at 7:00 PM in the VHS auditiorium.  Lastly, a reminder that a scrip order will be placed this Friday, May 9th, as well as Friday, May 23rd. We appreciate you purchasing scrip and supporting our organization.

5 PM Monday - Orchestra
6 PM Monday - Sinfonia
Tues - Orchestra
Wed - Sinfonia
Thurs - All students
Fri - Sinfonia

Dear Orchestra & Sinfonia Parents and Students,

We are excited to announce that our blog is up and running!  We are still in the process of updating it with valuable information including upcoming concerts, zero periods schedules, concert dress guidelines etc.  Hopefully you will be able to find the information you need on our activities whenever you visit.

Here are a few reminders about upcoming dates:

• Springfest - May 19th, 6:00 p.m. (5:30 call) at Valencia High School Gym
• Spring Concert (Sinfonia only) - May 29th, 7:00 p.m. (6:15 call) at Yorba Linda Friends Church
• End of the year Awards Banquet & Concert - SUNDAY, June 8th, 5:30 p.m. (5:00 call) at the ESC building on the corner of YL Blvd. and Casa Loma - Please note that this date has changed from the original calendar.
• ZERO Periods - All this week and all next week both orchestra and Sinfonia have zero period

Also, please remember that the next Scrip order will be placed this Friday!  Please support our orchestra by placing an order.

And please remember that next Monday night, April 28th at 7:15 is our Spring Booster meeting in the orchestra room.  We would love to see you there!

Thank you again for your support,

Paula Parker & Christina Mueller

Dear Orchestra Parents and Students,

We want to thank all of you for your wonderful support over the past school year. It has been another great year filled with outstanding music thanks to a talented director, hard-working students, and supportive parents. As we near the end of this school year, we’d like to ask your help with several things: 

Welcome to our new Orchestra and Sinfonia site for updates and information.   Please check back often for new entries.