OCS guitar class strikes a chord with community

||| FROM ORCAS CHRISTIAN SCHOOL |||

“Alright, guitarists! Let’s play B7 (a chord) in three, two, one…!”

Orcas Christian School (OCS) began a guitar class in 2018 as a high school elective course taught by Andy Rivera. Today, after six years of classes and performances, the OCS Guitar Orchestra has grown into an integral part of the Orcas Youth Music Scene.

Each fall, the Guitar Orchestra performs at Orcas Center’s “Whale of a Show” or Orcas “Kids Got Talent” and shares fun-loving songs with the audience along with Fridays at “Community” (school assembly), where the audience is the student body.

In December, the group performed Christmas Carols with Orcas Choral Society at the Market, played in the OCS Christmas Program, and went on a “Guitar Tour” in which the guitarists brought exciting Christmas music to congregations on Orcas and in Anacortes. In the spring, the off-island Guitar Tours will continue.

Great island guitarists like Steven Baker, Eber Lucas, and Cadence Kraayeveld are legendary OCS grads and members of the “OCS Guitar Hall of Fame.” Also, Orcas Island High School Sophomore Jack Carson is another OCS Hall of Famer.

Andy Rivera, the group’s leader and instructor, is a self-taught guitarist who embeds his guitar philosophy in his young troubadours.

“You signed up for guitar. Here are the chords; learn and practice them at home, and play together in class. Get experience performing together, finding solutions together, developing confidence and gradually improving within a culture of progress – not perfection,” Rivera said.

He continued,”Go on the road. Apply success strategies to other areas in your life. Let’s have fun and make memories!”