Sequim Community Orchestra opens fall registration for youth classes

By Sequim Gazette staff • August 7, 2025 1:30 am
Photo courtesy of Sequim Community Orchestra/ Sequim Community Orchestra has opened registration for fall classes offered by its renamed children’s program, Peninsula Community Youth Orchestra. Visit <a href="https://pcyo.kids" target="_blank">pcyo.kids</a> for more information.
Photo courtesy of Sequim Community Orchestra/ Sequim Community Orchestra has opened registration for fall classes offered by its renamed children’s program, Peninsula Community Youth Orchestra. Visit pcyo.kids for more information.

The Sequim Community Orchestra has opened registration for its children’s program, Peninsula Community Youth Orchestra, formerly SCO String Kids. The SCO welcomes students first grade and up in Sequim, Chimacum and Port Angeles for fall classes offered by its expanded and improved program starting Monday, Sept. 22.

Classes will be from 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday at Swisher Hall, 506 N. Blake Ave. in Sequim near Carrie Blake Community Park. They will be led by Sara Baldwin, an experienced orchestra educator with 25 years teaching experience and 30 years running a private studio. She has been with the SCO’s children’s program since 2022.

Tuition is $150 per term. No experience is required for the beginner class, and the SCO maintains a library of instruments for students to use at no additional cost.

According to a press release, the program is particularly well suited to the youngest students — those in first through third grades, for whom there are currently no other group string programs in Clallam County. Young learners are able to advance into SCO’s intermediate and advanced classes.

“With lots of practice, our students are often ready to join other amateur adults in the Sequim Community Orchestra some time in middle school,” the press release stated. “Our best students we hope will be ready to audition for the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra during late high school.”

Several hundred students have participated in the children’s program since 2012.

The SCO has new registration software and has made administrative improvements. There is also a website for its Peninsula Community Youth Orchestra program —pcyo.kids — where more information can be found, including how to register.

The SCO will be at the Clallam County Fair from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Kids Day — Thursday, Aug. 14 — and will be at the Sequim Back to School Fair at the Sequim Boys and Girls Club on Saturday, Aug. 23 from 1-3 p.m.

The Sequim Community Orchestra is a nonprofit organization that promotes the teaching and performance of orchestral music. It provides a community orchestra open to beginning and intermediate players of all ages and presents performances and informative programs for the public.