Orchestra will perform at the annual UIL contest from Feb. 27 through March 1 at John H. Guyer High School in Denton.

Orchestra UIL consists of a two-part competition: three practiced pieces and one sight reading of a music piece that they have not yet seen.

“[Orchestra director Matthew] Cautivar gave all three orchestras music that is a bit above what’s expected for each orchestra’s level at UIL,” sophomore Marianna Rooks said. “We hope to present ourselves well and show that we can go beyond what’s expected and still come out successfully with a superior rating.”

Based on its performances, orchestra will receive feedback and ratings from the judges. Orchestra president Elizabeth Wei said that the orchestras has been preparing for the contest since January, and she hopes to show that they can go beyond what’s expected and come out successful with a superior rating.

“The music we’re performing is just right in the sense that a wide spectrum of styles and sounds are explored,” Wei said. “Our pieces range from the classical era to the romantic era to contemporary.”

Orchestra will have three groups representing Hebron at UIL this year: Chamber, Symphonic and Concert. Students have been working on several different pieces for this contest and have recently started to practice sight reading. Rooks said the orchestra has minor things to fix before the contest.

“There’s always something capable of improvement,” Rooks said. “For symphonic, we have a lot of difficult rhythms. Along with that, balancing between sections and staying together are the two biggest challenges since we have such a large orchestra.”

Throughout the years, the orchestra has won many awards and superior ratings. In addition, sophomore Alice Wei said that winning isn’t all she cares about.

“My hopes for UIL this year is to get all ones,” Alice said. “[I want] to make the judges so impressed that they put down their pencils and just enjoy the music. No matter what happens, as long as we don’t stress ourselves out, everything will be OK.”