For longer than many can remember, Dr. Veleckis served as Sandburg’s orchestra director, so it’s no surprise that her retirement in 2025 sparked questions about what would come next for the orchestra department.
This year, the orchestra department will be led by Mr. Bailey, Sandburg’s band director since 1998.
Mr. Bailey in teaching mode in his orchestra room. Photo by Willow Bhojraj
Mr. Bailey is certainly qualified to take on this new role with a master’s degree in orchestral performance; however, he does acknowledge that he doesn’t have as much experience in the orchestral world, saying, “I think I can conduct the music fairly well. I think I know the literature fairly well, but I don’t know all of the secondary fingerings. I’m not going to know a lot of the technique nuances nearly as well as a professional violinist or violist or cellist, or bassist.”
For this reason, he intends to have private professionals work with the orchestra groups in sectionals– a variation on full orchestra rehearsal in which the orchestra is separated into instrument-specific groups and rehearses specific, more challenging excerpts, to perfect those sections more efficiently and quickly.
He says, “Hopefully, once we get this going, it’ll be at least once every other week. They can fill in the gap as we’ve done on the band side too. I think what the students really need to play the music is to play what the composers intended — you know, versus just what I can provide as a conductor who’s not a string professional.”
In addition to sectionals, Mr. Bailey also wants to have a more complete orchestra, stating that, “I’d also like to have a greater involvement of the winds, brass, and percussion and do more full symphony orchestra pieces with both groups.”
A common difficulty musicians face is sight reading. This is why a new implementation to help students known as “Friday Sight-Reading Fun” has also started this year. Mr. Bailey states, “Our Friday sight-reading fun, which I hope is fun…it’s nothing original. This is something that Lincoln-Way Central and Lincoln-Way West have been doing. Looking at rock music arranged for orchestra, [for example], I think they’re really high-quality arrangements. I think Dr. Veleckis did a good job of selecting really good literature, trying to keep that going and building upon it. I know that’s not necessarily a change.”
Student feedback is also important when it comes to adopting such drastic changes. Mr. Bailey mentions that, “It’d be a great idea to have a Google form, if I can figure a way out that students could feel like they can fill it out anonymously,” at the end of the year to reflect on the season.
Students so far have positive things to say about Mr. Bailey’s conducting of the orchestra. Eric Youngquist, a violist in the Symphony Orchestra, states, “Mr. Bailey is doing a great job being the new orchestra director, and I’m excited to see how he’ll handle concerts as opposed to Dr. V[eleckis].”
In the Philharmonic-Concert Orchestra, Olivia Elifson had very positive things to say about Mr. Bailey, stating, “One thing I do really like that Mr. Bailey has kept since last year is that we still do cookie Friday, which I look forward to every week.”
Yazhi Pangutalan and Rhianna Ysabell Santiago, both violinists in Symphony, felt confident about Mr. Bailey’s leadership of the department thus far. Regarding that, Santiago says, “So far, Mr. Bailey is in the process of bringing us new opportunities to work with mentors and incorporating great pieces into our selection!”
Though Pangutalan shared similar thoughts, she also states that her “concern is the class’s reaction to, or comparing, how orchestra was before, versus how it is now with the differences and similarities, because I feel like comparison talk like that can get into our heads as performers and, ‘oh I wish things would be like this, like how they were last year’ and comparison like that can really impact the environment and the determination to play.”
Students overall express positive sentiments about Mr. Bailey’s appointment as head of the orchestra department. Additionally, every student expressed their desire for more students to join the orchestra, as this year, due to a lack of numbers, the concert and philharmonic orchestras were combined into one group.
Mr. Bailey explained that, “Concert orchestra only had five players signed up for it… if you’re an incoming freshman, I think there’s kind of safety in numbers, and in my opinion, it’s a more rewarding experience to have a little bit bigger ensemble to play with.”
Despite changes to the program, students and staff can agree that the year ahead looks to be promising for the orchestra, with much to look forward to in the coming months and concert seasons.
