As the final project for my college orchestration class, my classmates and I were assigned to orchestrate a piano piece for full orchestra, and then have this piece read by the college’s philharmonic orchestra. I was assigned Franz Liszt’s Sursum Corda, and it proved to be both highly challenging and enjoyable. I also learned several important lessons about copyediting and part production, and even the catastrophic consequences of missing an accidental in a cello/bass soli! This piece did ignite a love of orchestration that has served me well in the years since, and I can look back at this collegiate project with fondness and a bit of humor.

-JMW