The 1968 film “Once Upon a Time in the West,” according to a report by the BBC, holds a distinction no other movie can boast: the longest-running opening credits sequence. For 14 minutes, the names of actors and producers and all the other professions that brought the film to being are listed, all before the first scene began.

As movie patrons await the entrance of Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda, they are treated to the music of Ennio Morricone. The Italian composer is responsible for music heard in more than 70 films from between 1954 and 2013, including “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” “The Thing” and “The Untouchables.”

Imagine that 14 minutes of opening credits without Morricone’s score.

And think about how empty your life would be had you never seen Bugs Bunny as Brünnhilde and Elmer Fudd as Siegfried in their rendition of Richard Wagner’s “Die Walküre.”

Sounds bleak, doesn’t it?

This is all to say, in a very corny way, orchestral music is a big part of the cultural experience dating back centuries.

The Butler County Symphony Orchestra knows how important it is to carry on the traditions of Morricone and Bugs Bunny — er, Wagner.

To that end, local high school students Ella West, Gabriella Boudreau, Zakk Boyer, Will Tamburri and Nate Deemer joined professional musicians Saturday night as part of the annual Side-by-Side Honors Symphony. They played two selections from Edvard Grieg’s orchestral suite, “Peer Gynt,” composed after the Norwegian fairy tale.

According to the symphony’s website, the “Side-by-Side Honors Program is offered to all high school students who apply and are recommended to play with the Butler County Symphony Orchestra at the March concert. Students prepare a piece of music chosen by the Maestro and rehearse with a guest conductor and section leaders of the orchestra to perform ‘side by side’ with the BCSO.”

According to a report in Monday’s Eagle by staff writer Irina Bucur, guest conductor Matthew Kraemer was feeling nostalgic going into the orchestra’s performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, “Titan,” on Saturday in the Butler Intermediate High School auditorium because he was reminded of his years as a young musician.

“I remember myself when I had that experience,” Kraemer said. “For me, it's a little bit of nostalgia to, you know, remember my early experiences sitting next to a professional musician in a professional orchestra. It opened up a lot of new avenues for me as a musician.”

For those of us who are not so musically inclined, music has a way of sinking into the listener. Imagine, then, what it means — how it feels — to a professional musician to make that music.

On a serious note, from “Taps” to “Happy Birthday,” music is an everyday part of life. The important functions of music cannot be overstated, and we applaud the Butler County Symphony Orchestra for providing talented youths the opportunity to be a part of it.

And we wish Matthew Kraemer the best in his future endeavors.

— RJ