Hitting all the right notes

Photo credit: Lucas Wang

“Lucas Wang performing for a crowd of music enthusiast”

SAN JOSE, CALIF.— Lucas Wang is a junior at Silver Creek High School. Lucas has been playing clarinet since he was in the fifth grade. He has honed his potential since fifth grade all the way till High School then to the All State Honor Band.

Lucas has been playing clarinet since the fifth grade. Six to five years playing music now and he is an amazing clarinetist. Lucas is section leader of clarinets. A section leader is an individual in charge of a specific group of players. The standard is that you are most likely the best of your group, you know the most about your instrument, and you have the most experience. Lucas has been accepted to the All state honor band this year and was accepted last year as well, although Lucas thought the pieces he was given could’ve been harder for the All state honor band standard. This proves his prowess as a clarinetist.

The San Jose Youth Symphony Program is going to Poland, Czech Republic, and Prague in the summer this year for their performances. Lucas will be going on this trip with them and he is quite excited to travel outside of the U.S. for the first time. Lucas had to start practicing in January 2024 to prepare for Honor Band for about two to three hours a day with 45 minutes dedicated to just the Honor Band repertoire. Last year Lucas had to travel for Honor Band but not out of the country and it’s a very strict program, you can’t go and sight see. You will spend most of your day rehearsing with the whole band or your section. This is for the Youth symphony program.

Lucas believes that Honor Band and a regular High School Band have one main difference which is discipline. He delved into the fact that when you’re in Honor Band it’s a way stricter regiment so you aren’t supposed to be messing around at all. When they travel they have to share rooms in hotels with other high school musicians. When it comes to his section he feels that if you don’t have a professional teacher then you have a harder time learning the fundamentals. Lucas said “”The most important part is discipline. It’s not about the most talented players; it’s about how disciplined you are.”

Lucas hasn’t figured out his future and is still planning, his hopes are to get into an ivy league university and ideally wants to major in some type of STEM. Lucas may have the chance at a very successful future since he was a professional Ping Pong player and trained by former Chinese National members. Lucas has won national tournaments in Ping Pong. Lucas stopped playing as soon as the Covid epidemic began and is currently playing tennis and will be captain of a competitive tennis team.