From March 16th to the 19th, the Hingham High School orchestra, band, and chorus students had the opportunity to go to Nashville, Tennessee with chaperones Ms. Sassano, Mr. Cincotta, Mr. Young, and Dr. Girouard McCann.

Many music students went to Nashville, including myself. After 4 days of being in the music city with some of the most musical people I know, it not only strengthened the friendships we have with one another, but exposed us to new styles of music such as Country and Bluegrass as well.

When the group left HHS at 5:00am on Thursday morning, we didn’t quite experience smooth sailing from the start. With heavy traffic on the highway, heroic chaperones Mr. Cincotta, Ms. Sassano, Mr. Cincotta, Mr. Young, and Dr. Girouard McCann contacted Jetblue and asked them to hold the flight until we, over half of the passengers, made it through security. Thanks to a very helpful airline and dedicated chaperones, we made it to Nashville around late morning. After landing, the fun began immediately.

As Junior Richard Miller expertly stated, “We took down a lot of chicken real quick”. As students finished up a big lunch following the famous Johnny Cash museum, they had a taste of the extreme four days of eating they were about to experience. Between traditional Tennessee pulled pork, fried hot chicken, mac n’ cheese, and barbeque beans, the food lovers were satisfied.

The rest of Friday featured a behind the scenes tour at the Grand Ole Opry and an unforgettable “Opry Country Classics” concert at the Ryman Auditorium. On Friday, the group walked on a tour of Nashville, visited A

ndrew Jackson’s Hermitage, and viewed Edgar Meyer’s impressive performance with the Nashville Symphony.

As the weekend hit, students had the opportunity to walk through the country music hall of fame, visit the famous RCA Studio B where Elvis and many more recorded, tour Olive and Sinclair Chocolates, and watch their first performance at the Grand Ole Opry.

Junior Luke Papich loved the performance at the Grand Ole Opry, exclaiming, “It was a grand ole time at the Grand Ole Opry”. Performances featured Bluegrass and Country music, exposing HHS music students to two new genres: Bluegrass and Southern Country.

Sunday greeted the group surprisingly quickly. On the students’ last day in Nashville, they drove 1.5 hours out to the Cumberland Caverns, arriving around 10:00am. After exploring the caves for over an hour, the group returned to Nashville and ate lunch in the Gulch District. With a quick stop at the Nashville Parthenon, and a hard goodbye to their tour guide, Billy Payne, students departed for Boston and arrived back at the High School around 11:30pm.

The next morning was a tough one, with Junior Hannah Kerber describing herself “falling asleep on the walk from far” at 7:45am. While the group was tired and a bit overwhelmed after missing two days of school, every student clearly felt the trip was worth one or two days of sleepiness and are anxiously awaiting the eventual announcement of next year’s excursion!