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January 9, 2023
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| Word of the Week--"Orchestrate" |
Definition--Orchestrate- v. 1. To plan, organize, and arrange in a way that best achieves desired results. 2. To compose or arrange music for an orchestra.
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| Discussion-- Do you remember the television show from the 1980's called The A-Team? It was a show about a small group (one of whom was Mr. T!) of former soldiers who are framed of a crime they did not commit. So, they run around the country in a black van with a red stripe on it and help other people defeat bad guys (although they themselves are fugitives from the law). Anyway, in the show the A-Team would always orchestrate these elaborate plans to get the bad guys, and it always involved building a cool car or tank, with duct tape being one of the main materials used. Well, inevitably, the A-Team always succeeded, at which point their leader, Hannibal, would say, "I love it when a plan comes together." Their plans always came together because they were beautifully orchestrated (and because they had Mr. T!). It really was a good show. At least, I thought so when I was ten.
The word orchestrate has as its root the word orchestra, which is a group of musicians that normally perform classical music. Orchestrate in this sense means to compose the music and to arrange it in a way that is most pleasing to the ear.
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| Etymology--Orchestrate-from orchestra, from Greek orchestra, the space where ancient Greek dancers performed in the Greek theater, from orcheisthai, to dance.
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Foreign Translations
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| Dutch: |
orkestreren
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| French: |
orchestrer
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| German: |
orchestrieren
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| Italian: |
orchestrieren
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| Spanish: |
orquestrar, organizar, montar
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Jane Ellis
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