Many students share a passion for the guitar, and the new guitar ensemble  enables them to learn new skills and grow a community. 

This school year marks the first year of the guitar ensemble at Wake Forest and freshman Keagan Siegers loves to talk about it.

“It feels really cool because everyone I talk to about it, like, ‘oh what’s your elective?’ ‘guitar’ ‘Oh I didn’t know that was elective.’ So it’s really cool to be the first of it,” Siegers said. 

Jazz and rock are popular genres to play on the guitar, although some members enjoy playing the blues, heavy metal and soul music. 

While the ensemble’s music preferences are scattered around many different genres, sophomore Nicholas Garcia says the director, Brandon Martel, is focusing on one in particular. 

“We were learning some new songs in class for the concert. We’re doing pretty good on them, a couple of Christmas songs,” Garcia said. 

The ensemble practices in the band room during fourth period, and the majority of their performances are held in the auditorium. 

Sophomore Raphael Vasconcelos enjoys performing and was proud of the ensemble and himself after their concert.

“I feel like I performed really well. I was surprised by the end result and how everyone performed,” Vasconcelos said.

Senior Malachi Addo loves the new addition of the guitar ensemble and has high hopes for the future of the program.

Addo said, “It feels good. I can definitely see this as a class sticking around for a long time, and I hope people have as much fun with it as I did.”