Last week, the Chapman orchestra was lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit Music City in Nashville, Tennessee. While in Nashville, they got to visit the Wildhorse Saloon, the Country Music Hall and Walk of Fame, the Parthenon, the Opryland Hotel, Oceanway Recording Studio and Belmont University.

“I chose to go to Nashville because it’s the hub of music,” Orchestra teacher Jeanette Kuhn said. “We got to see a lot of the tourist attractions, but at the same time, we got to see how life is as a professional musician.”

On their first night in Nashville, they went to the Wildhorse Saloon where they had line dancing lessons, and got to see live performances from upcoming artists.

“My favorite place that we visited was the Wildhorse Saloon,” freshman Jamie Perry said. “It was fun to watch a concert and learn how to line dance.”

The students also visited Oceanway Recording Studio where Mrs. Walker got to have fun recording her own music. Over the years, there have been more than 100 artists recording at Oceanway. While taking a tour of the studios, students got to see the equipment that has been used by so many popular artists such as country musicians like Tim Mcgraw and classical musicians like Yo-Yo Ma.

“For me, the most memorable part of the trip was definitely going to Oceanway Recording Studio,” Kuhn said. “It was really fun to think of who was recording in those microphones and sitting on those couches just the week before we were there.“

On their last day in Nashville, the students got to visit Belmont University. Belmont is the second largest university in the state of Tennessee. Belmont was a great place to visit because so many musicians, including Brad Paisley, graduated from there.

In Nashville, students learned so much about what they can add to the way they play their instruments in the classroom.

“I would definitely love to go back to Nashville,” freshman Ansley Hill said.