Three times the charm is what they always say, or in this case three instruments is the charm for senior Eric Moerland. He is involved in band, choir, and orchestra all at the same time, which is practically unheard of for a high school student.

In 4th grade Moerland started out playing the violin, but going into his freshman year, the band looked quite appealing.

“I talked to my friend Noah and said ‘if I bought an instrument and learned how to plan, could I join band?’ They said sure, but nobody believed me,” Moerland said. So he went out to buy a clarinet and they realized he was pretty good.

But why stop there.

“Junior year I did a musical and I thought ‘well if I’m in band and I’m in orchestra, I may as well add choir,” Moerland said. He auditioned out for the choir and ended up getting in what he had hoped for, the choral ensemble.

Being a high school student a balance between workload and activities is of great importance. So the solution is having a low workload. Moerland only has two other classes which allows him more time to focus on his musical classes. Most of his free time includes practicing and sleeping a lot Moerland says with a smirk. He claims music is pretty much the extent of his social life.

“It’s kinda nice I can leave my phone somewhere and not have to worry about missing something,” Moerland said.

At first when Moerland approached the band teacher, Iain Novoselich about joining the three music classes Novoselich was sceptical about his ability to schedule all three.

“Eric had never touched a clarinet prior to his second semester of freshman year,” Novoselich said. “His Mom had played clarinet while in high school, and Eric, having been in orchestra since middle school, had an obvious interest in music.”

From the beginning Moerland had aspired to be in the Wind Ensemble.

“Eric sits as our principal clarinet in the Wind Ensemble having worked his way through every concert group,” Novoselich said. “Eric has incredible drive and is a great asset to our program(s).”

Moerland admits that because the band group has grown to be very close throughout band camps and friday night football games, that band is his favorite.

Junior Zach Tyler a member of band has gotten to know Moerland’s silly personality through band and describes his best moment of Moerland.

“At band camp before they went they bought a plunger and they went into their cabin and they stuck the plunger to Erics back and literally picked him off the ground,” Tyler said.

Even though most of his day is spent singing, playing the clarinet, and violin, his favorite instrument is the piano which does not have a class for. He began the piano in 8th grade by teaching himself how to play. He simply went out and bought a digital piano and with his past knowledge of knowing the notes from orchestra.

“I like that because you can play it as a solo, you don’t need and ensemble or an orchestra to play with you,” Moerland said. “So I can play it whenever I want and however I want.”

Interestingly, even with all the time and effort Moerland has put into music, it’s not a primary part of his future plans. He aspires to pursue engineering as a career. However, he hasn’t given up on the idea of keeping it as a hobby. If an opportunity to audition for clarinet pops up, he doesn’t plan to miss it.

“In professional life, I could have a professional engineering job and then do orchestra on the weekends,” Moerland said. “I see no reason to stop playing.”