After their group trip to Kansas City at the end of March, choir and band students gave top performances at state large ensemble contests this month and learned much from the competition experience.
On Friday April 4, band students went to Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar to compete. The band, together as a big group, got an “outstanding” score. Band director Sandra Stewart chose the music for the band to play by finding music that would show the different abilities that the instrumentalists can do.
“The two pieces needed to be of contrasting styles and show our ability to do different types of music. I looked at music that we do easily but still challenged us to fine tune and bring out musical ideas,” Stewart said.
The two songs that they performed at the contest were “Crosswind March” by James Swearingen along with “Appalachian Folk Fantasy” by Anne McGiney. The band first started preparing for state at the end of February after all of the snow days were done.
Senior Marissa Ricke plays the clarinet. She was most excited, while at state, to play strong for her last competition. She was most nervous about sight reading for the competition.
Junior LilyAnn Valentine plays percussion. Valentine was most nervous about the performance itself.
“I think the performance itself. The judges’ stakes are high. It’s a very strict environment. You have to warm up properly. There’s certain times you can reach for your music. You have to wait to lift your instruments at a certain time. All of that can deduct points. It’s really stressful, but I think it’s worth it,” Valentine said.
On Friday April 11, choir students also went to Southwest Baptist University for the vocal contest. Women’s choir performed “You Are My Music” by Laura Farnell and “Still Wie Die Nacht” by Carl Bohm. Men’s choir performed “Good News” by Andre J. Thomas and “Flow Gently Sweet Afton” by Douglas E. Wangner. Madrigal performed “Steal Away” by Nancy Wertsch and “Amor Vittorioso” by Giovanni Gastoldi. Madrigal got an “outstanding” rating while Women’s Choir got the top rating of “exemplary,” and Men’s Choir earned an “outstanding” rating. They first started preparing for this competition a couple of weeks after the district small ensemble/solo contest. Choir director Deanna Schockmann had help from accompanist and retired music teacher Charlene Million.
“Typically, I choose all the music, but my husband’s health prevented me from doing that. I chose some of them, but Mrs. Million chose most of the music this year to help me out when I couldn’t be there. When I do choose music, I consider each student’s strengths and weaknesses and choose something that they will have to work towards. Students are part of the process making sure that it’s something that appeals to them. All students are required to speak a foreign language. Freshmen and sophomores typically stick with Latin or Italian. As juniors and seniors, they can move into German and sometimes even French depending on the student. I only offer German or French to students with the best work ethic and those that seem to have a natural propensity for languages,” Schockmann said.
Senior Dakoda Jensen is a member of the Madrigal and Men’s Choir. He was most nervous about not hitting the notes correctly while performing. He was most excited about performing at state.
Junior Chloey Brazel is a member of Madrigal. At state, she was most nervous for the soprano section.
“I’m most nervous about our soprano section not having enough volume on our highest notes, and not getting enough strength in the places we need it,” Brazel said.
Brazel was most excited to hear the differences in the songs.
“I’m most excited for the extreme differences in our songs between quiet and loud and putting a lot of energy into it,” Brazel said.
A couple of weeks before the students went to state, they had the opportunity to take a fun trip to Kansas City. While there, they got to go to a Kansas City Royals game, Science City, and ride the train. Schockmann decided to choose Kansas City for the location of the trip because she wanted to have a fun trip that the train station would work well with.
“We were looking for a fun overnight trip that the train schedule would work best with and KC has a lot of diversity in activities,” Schockmann said.
One memory she will take away from the trip is the Royals win. Stewart found that the most difficult part about planning the trip was the change in the trip. The trip was originally planned for Chicago.
“The most difficult part was having to change the trip because life happens and dealing with the money. Oh, and the automated hotel computer that hung up on me 5 times when I tried to make reservations. I ended up booking at another hotel,” Stewart said.
One memory that she will take from the trip is the students convincing her to take them swimming early in the morning.
“We did lots of fun things on the KC trip, but right now I remember most getting up super early to be at the pool at 5 am so everyone could swim. I also remember that they promised me Reeses and Pepsi and I still haven’t seen the Reeses,” Stewart said.
Junior LilyAnn Valentine’s favorite memory from the trip was also getting up to go swimming.
“Honestly, I think we all got up at five in the morning to go swimming. We convinced Mrs. Stewart to get up, but she made us all buy her candy so she’d get up and take us. That was funny,” Valentine said.
Brazel’s favorite part about the trip was swimming in the hotel pool.
“Probably swimming in the hotel pool, and watching the boys manage to throw Kobie (sophomore Kobie Gerstner),” Brazel said.
One memory that she will remember the most is Jayden Culbertson managing to squeeze through a one-foot hole on giant potato chip steps to the top of a tower.
Freshman Piper Whipkins favorite part about the trip was either the Royals game or Science City. One memory that she will remember the most is watching the Royals game with her friends Angela, Addie, and Amelia.
