Formed in 2002, the revolutionary Lakewood Project performed before possibly its largest crowd of an estimated 3000-5000 at the Lakewood Park bandshell in an incredible 2 1/2 hour concert for an appreciative and enthusiastic audience ostensibly arriving early for the fireworks. Music Director Beth Hankins has succeeded in injecting the energy and excitement and passion of rock and roll into a traditionally staid high school orchestra program.

Featuring eight electric Viper violins and cellos, custom-designed by Trans-Siberia Orchestra leader Mark Wood, along with rock drums, electric bass and guitar, synthesizer, plus a full string orchestra section, the huge ensemble floats like a flutter-bye and stings like a snake with a repertoire that whipsaws from The Who's Tommy to Vivaldi's Winter. With the generous support of Lakewood High School alumn George Read, who footed the $16,000 cost to buy the eight Vipers, LHS students try out for the ensemble, which practices on Sundays and has performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and The Lakewood Civic (where their first CD, The Lakewood Project Live From The Civic was recorded), this extra-curricular activity has taken on a life of its own.

Remarkably, the kids do their own arrangements and now have 35 songs in their repertoire, including Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven, Pink Floyd's Money, and the stand-out Strike The Match, an original composition by Wood. The works are full of life, with the musicians bounding around the stage, clearly enjoying themselves. Can it really be that this is the only high school rock orchestra in the country, as they claim? If so, high school music and band directors should take a lesson.

There are a couple of critical differences between The Lakewood Project and other similar music ensembles. First, the concert is presented as rock and roll, that is, at a raucaus volume level, with prominent drums, screaming lead guitar, electric bass guitar and a team of jamming percussionists. The players wear state-of-the-art in-ear monitors, and dress in casual, funky, individual costumes. The Vipers are arranged across the front of the stage, and they move about to the music, occassionally breaking into choreographed routines. But it is all tossed off with verve and confidence, rather than the stereotypical angst of the concert violinist. The closest comparison may be The Kronos Quartet, but they remain a four-piece classical ensemble, and their interpretations of contemporary rock music eschews rock drums and amplified guitars, preferring instead to bring rock music into the realm of the classical.

Why is such a group important? The Lakewood Project is popular enough that tryouts are necessary to join, and not everyone is accepted. The heavy load of rehearsing is done outside of regular school hours. The musicians are called upon to write and arrange the music and produce the shows. They have participated in live concerts before large groups, and have completed a recording project. In the end, this group will have done more, learned more, and experienced more than those in traditional programs. Their next steps could be even more important. Additional original compositions by students that stretch the accepted 1970's style "classical rock" blending of the orchestra and the rock band will launch the group into another orbit. And while they've consciously avoided recent popular music, the group has the potential of breaking new ground with the incorporation of spoken or sung lyrics, hinted at with their version of The Charlie Daniels Band's The Devil Went Down To Georgia, especially if it intelligently blends contemporary hip-hop's wordplay and social conscience. This is one group to keep your eyes (and ears) on.

http://www.TheLakewoodProject.net

Review and photos by Thomas Mulready

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