Among all the school music groups, the most quirky might be the Going For Baroque Recorders group.

The ensemble has been somewhat behind-the-scenes since it was formed at the end of 2015.

“People are just like ‘There’s a recorder ensemble?’ ” said the group’s creator, senior Mark Garcia. “Since our meetings are not usually that productive, people just kind of look at us weird when we meet.”

The group currently has four active members at LHS: Garcia, senior Emily Lepine, senior Elijah Jackson and sophomore Rose Hicks. 

Garcia leads the group on his own — picking out music, coordinating schedules and planning events. He has help from Quinton Marschall of DeSoto for the members who don’t live in Lawrence, but manages the rest by himself. 

The recorder ensemble all started when Garcia bought a cheap recorder from Dollar General freshman year and taught himself how to play.

“I was bored,” Garcia said. “I wanted someone else to play the recorder with because I was like, ‘Oh this sounds really good in a group’ because I listened to recordings on YouTube.”

Besides the recorder, Garcia also plays cello, oboe, clarinet and says he is passable at tuba, flute and saxophone. He began cello in fourth grade, joined choir in fifth, then signed up for band freshman year. Ever since, music has been a dominant part of his high school life, as he participated in marching band, choir performances and Showtime. Music is also a large part of his family life.

“My uncle is a musician, too,” Garcia said. “He has a day job, and he also is a musician on the side. I grew up around music because my grandma and my mom all enjoy singing a lot.”

Lepine has also been involved in music for much of her life. She became interested in music fifth grade, joining orchestra in sixth grade on the violin. She is also a member of the Lawrence High A Cappella choir.

“I heard about it through Mark,” Lepine said. “[I joined] because it was interesting. [I’ve been a member] since Mark started the group sophomore year when he came here.”

Jackson is another dedicated member of the ensemble. Besides the recorder ensemble, he also plays clarinet in Wind Ensemble. Jackson joined the group later, and performed with Garcia at a choir concert.

“It was called ‘Singing and Dancing,’ with Mr. [Randall] Frye and the freshman choir,” Jackson said

The group has had two major performances of just recorder music, and also performed at a show for Garcia’s mother at the Cider Gallery. 

The ensemble decided to take a small break from making music together to focus on other activities in the school.

“One of our members has to get [their] grades up and then I have to work on Showtime and audition stuff for college,” Garcia said.