Submitted by Kari Stebbing
Music Director
Rim of the World High School
The Rim of the World High School Wind Ensemble performed at a festival competition on March 27 at Montebello High School, in Montebello.
At first, we didn’t think we were going to be able to do this festival competition as we were having difficulty raising the funds for the bus. Thankfully, many community members jumped in to help and even Principal Brian Willemse helped us secure our transportation.
We performed two pieces for three adjudicators – “Rhythm of the Winds” by Frank Erickson and “Lincolnshire Posy” by Percy Grainger.
Our goal for these sorts of festivals is to gain practice in performance, perform in constructive competition with other high schools and gain feedback from other expert musical directors. After our performance, we get to work with one of the judges in a clinic to review some concepts that we can improve on.
The judges were impressed with our students’ performance. Each judge commented on the fact that we have such a small band, compared to those others, and yet we can make “a mighty sound.” 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.
A big shoutout to Ava Holtzen on her flute solo, something that a different band director commented on to me. He went out of his way to say, “I thought your flute soloist had an exceptionally phenomenal quality of sound.”
The Rim of the World High School Wind Ensemble received an Excellent rating which, in terms of these sorts of competitions, can be viewed as second place.
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