After weeks of rehearsing and performing, the band, choir and orchestra competed at the state ensemble contest on Wednesday, Apr. 11. Musical groups from high schools across Kansas, each performed several pieces in front of a panel of three judges.
The ensemble contest was held at Blue Valley North High School. Every group selected two songs that they would perform, and also gave the judges a selection of songs which they would then choose one from. Each group was judged based on their tone, expression, enunciation and several other factors. The judges scored the groups on a scale of 1-80, which then translated into three possible ratings: a one, a two or a three. All of the judges’ scores are then averaged together. Any performance that averaged between a 69 and an 80 received a one, which is the highest possible score. Each group’s scores are as follows:
Choraliers – 1
Women’s choir – 1
Men’s choir – 2
Concert band – 1
Symphonic band – 2
Concert and philharmonic orchestra – 1
Symphonic orchestra – 1
“I’m pleased with how we represented the school,” Choral teacher Ken Foley said. “Everyone took it seriously and I thought we sang great.”
For contest, the women’s and men’s choirs were combined with the women and men from the Choraliers. Band selected their concert band and their symphonic band to represent them at contest, and orchestra sent sent their symphonic orchestra, and a combined concert and philharmonic orchestra.
“Although it was disappointing to hear we didn’t do as well as we thought we did,” band member David Ronning said. “We feel that we did our best, and we’re very satisfied with our performance and look forward to seeing how we do next year.”
Leave a Reply