By Kari Stebbing
Music Director
Rim of the World High School
Rim High’s wind ensemble was able to perform at a festival at Redlands High School on March 12 thanks to some of the parents.
At first, we didn’t think we were going to be able to do this festival competition as we were having difficulty securing transportation. The District Transportation office informed us two weeks before the event that we would have to hire a charter bus at triple the originally quoted price.
The band kids have to sell donuts to fundraise for such a bus, and we just weren’t going to be able to sell enough of those in such a short time frame. Thankfully, we had some of our parents step up to carpool, completing the required paperwork in the nick of time.
We performed three pieces for three adjudicators: “Canzona Bergamasca” by Samuel Scheidt, arranged by Larry Daehn; “Lux Aurumque” by Eric Whitacre; and “Processional March” by Richard Wagner, arranged by Dale Eymann.
Our goal for these sorts of festivals is to gain practice in performance, experience constructive competition with other high schools and gain feedback from other expert musical directors. After our performance, we are able to hear their recorded criticism and review their written notes, so that we are better able to improve our performances in the future.
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 Boedy Reisner, who plays the tuba, as he was highlighted by one judge to be exceptional in his balance and weight in the band.
At the end of our performance, the students were then challenged in a new room where they were asked to sight read. The students sat down with a piece they had never seen before. They had five minutes to simply look it over, after which they are expected to play it as well as they can. I would like to point out that the students insisted on the harder piece of two choices.
For the sight reading, they received the highest score possible – a Superior.
The wind ensemble received an Excellent rating – viewed as second place – for their performance at the festival.
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