Submitted by Kari Stebbing – Music Director, Rim of the World High School

The Rim High wind ensemble performed in a festival at Santiago High School in Corona on March 28.

At first, we didn’t think we were going to be able to do this festival competition. We were snowed in for so long, that we only had one practice in a month prior to the competition. What a huge challenge to overcome!

At this time of the year, all of the other bands have been to at least one other competition, so they have had time to correct their mistakes. For us, it’s the opposite: We had one shot to make it and we had to rely solely on what we were able to create back in January.

We performed two pieces for three adjudicators. Our goal for these sorts of festivals is to gain practice in performance, constructive competition with other high schools and gain feedback from other expert musical directors.

The Rim High wind ensemble received an Excellent rating. In terms of these types of competitions, that can be viewed as second place.

After our performance, we had to complete the sight-reading challenge. This means we get a brand-new piece we have never seen before and we play it one time through to the best of our ability. We received an Excellent rating in sight reading as well!

Our students are so dedicated to their playing and have learned so much in the past few years that they were able to play with ease – a great accomplishment for the program.

The judges were impressed with our students’ performance. Each judge commented on the fact that we have such a small band, compared to the other schools, and yet we can make “a mighty sound.”

Two of the judges even went so far as to remark that, because of the small size, our students are forced to work so much harder because now each student is a soloist and each tiny mistake can be heard.

Each judge emphasized the level of skill and technique that our band presented and also commented on the high level of professionalism with which our students conducted themselves.