Many have heard of the National Honor Society (NHS). Everyone’s either in it or constantly hearing their friends complain about it. This may be the most popular, but there are many honor societies around the high school, including a new one this year.
This year, the Oyster River High School (ORHS) music department is starting a chapter of the Tri-M music honor society. This society will allow passionate musicians from around the school to take part in developing the music program and get credit while doing it.
This new honor society is an exciting endeavor for musicians around ORHS. Will Blandini (‘24), a student in the band who plans to attend the Berklee College of Music, is excited about the opportunities it will bring, “if it means I’m doing more music stuff, that’s what I want to do.”
Anyone who joins will be doing plenty more music stuff. Andrea von Oeyen, the orchestra director at ORHS, explains a major benefit of joining the honor society. “It allows us to all come together and kind of learn from each other, even though we don’t sit in the same classroom or ensemble.”
The ORHS music department is divided into ensembles: orchestra, band, guitar, and chorus. Each of these ensembles rarely get the opportunity to interact, and this honor society would give many members a chance. During monthly meetings, members from all the different groups would be able to collaborate on ideas with each other to develop the music department.
Blandini is excited about the idea of bringing all different types of musicians together because it will spark new ideas and develop creativity within the department. “I feel like bringing musicians closer together within Oyster River is an excellent idea.”
This idea started years ago, when the music directors tried to start a chapter of the honor society. Right before Covid, Marc LaForce, the band director, collaborated with a student to start this society, and it almost worked. Lack of interest and limited resources due to remote learning caused the project to be put on the backburner, until now.
The process for establishing the honor society was relatively simple. All the directors had to do was submit an application to the National Association for Music Education and follow the guidelines they were given. Von Oeyen attests to this. “It’s very simple actually, they want to make it as easy as possible.”
Since it’s such a simple process, many other schools have implemented this honor society, and have developed it as their own. Blandini is excited to hear this and hopes to develop the program at ORHS. “I talked with some musicians from Coe-Brown, and they have a really strong tri-m chapter over there. They actually have events and stuff that they do.”
If the new ORHS chapter further develops, some of these cool events could ensue. These could include things like an induction ceremony performance by the members, a halftime show for a sports game, and a dinner ceremony with live music.
Any achievement takes work, and being part of any honor society requires some sort of service hours. The cool thing about the Tri-M honor society is that the service revolves around music, like playing during a community dinner, organizing sheet music, or performing for any public event. Von Oeyen mentions how the service aspect will open many opportunities for members.
A lot goes into being a part of the music honor society, so what do members get out of joining? According to von Oeyen, students can develop many of their responsibilities like organization, community building, and presentation.
LaForce thinks that joining is “a good opportunity to gain some leadership skills. […] It’s a good feather to have in your cap, and it speaks intrinsically to your character.”
Von Oeyen also mentioned how students will be able to do what they want with it and make the organization their own. “I think that we will give a lot of ownership to kids in this music honor society,” she said.
Another huge benefit of joining any honor society is getting a fun ribbon at graduation! Von Oeyen was excited to mention that the music honor society ribbon is pink.
The music department and student musicians of ORHS are all excited to see where this honor society might lead. Everyone is hopeful to see a future of events, performances, and community. Kickstarting the music honor society could spark development for the ORHS music department in the coming years.
– Micah Bessette
Mouth of the River 
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