The brass choir preparing for competition. Photo Credit: LOUIS DENNIN
BY LOUIS DENNIN
The woodwind and brass choirs from the Sound of Pride Band have been busily readying for the upcoming Solo and Ensemble event in February in hopes of receiving a high rating from the judges.
Solo and Ensemble is an organized event for students involved in band, who prepare a piece of their choosing to perform for judges who will rate them and give them constructive comments about their playing. Pieces have difficulty ratings from one – seven, one being the easiest. High school students are required to perform a piece of music at a level three or higher, and judges give a rating ranging from poor to superior. Performing at Solo and Ensemble is required this year by band director Christopher Schletter, so all students are working diligently to ready themselves for the festival in February.
“Solo and Ensemble is an excellent way for students to see how far they’ve come and how far they have to go,” brass choir conductor Marla Manes said. “They practice with other people, which is necessary to become the best musicians they can.”
Two large ensembles of students are planning to take the stage for Solo and Ensemble. These two groups are both composed of and ran entirely by the students. The first of these is the Brass choir, composed only of brass players. These musicians come from all grade levels, with varying amounts of experience and confidence. The choir is performing Sonata Pian’ e Forte by Giovanni Gabrieli, and the students meet once every week to rehearse together.
“We’re moving along quite well,” senior brass choir member William Cobb said, “We were able to play through our entire piece as an ensemble recently and we still have a few more rehearsals to do finer improvements to the piece and make our performance as close to perfect as we can.”
The other large ensemble preparing for Solo and Ensemble is the Woodwind choir. As the name would suggest, all the members of this choir are woodwind members of the band program who come from all grade and skill levels as they do in the brass choir. The woodwind choir, also meeting once a week, is planning to perform a piece by Mozart called II Re Pastore at the festival.
“The ensemble is coming along nicely, and with much more practice we’ll achieve a rating of at least an excellent at Solo and Ensemble festival,” Woodwind choir conductor Alex Quintero said.
With the performance getting nearer and nearer, the two choirs are busily trying to perfect themselves at their rehearsals. Many say that the progress has been slow this year, but they are also looking at the future and working hard for a superior rating.
“I really find it nice to have that cohesive element of an ensemble,” junior woodwind choir member Bryan Fisher said. “It is very different from the typical band experience.”
