From Feb. 28 to Mar. 5, the Missouri State High School Activities Association Solo and Small Ensemble competitions and the Large Ensemble band festival took place for high schools throughout the state. A total of five soloists and one small ensemble from Summit qualified to participate in the state competition on May 2nd. In addition, both large ensembles earned the highest possible rating of one, or ‘Exemplary,’ at the large ensemble festival.
State qualifying soloists included senior Will Benson, juniors Devin Jenkins, Michael Charleston, Sally Stasa, and freshman Henry Kim. Stasa said that in preparation for the competition, band director Jeremy Loui gave helpful tips while soloists practiced during class.
“We had time in class to practice on our own and Mr. Loui would come in and listen and give feedback,” Stasa said.
A brass trio including Jenkins, Benson, and junior Nolan Rittgers qualified for State as a small ensemble. Rittgers said he was nervous while performing for the judge at the solo and ensemble festival.
“It was kind of stressful, we were just in a small room with a judge and we sat down and played some music and left. [There were] just a lot of nerves in the room,” Rittgers said.
As a large ensemble, Loui said the band put on a good performance, demonstrating their technical and performance skills.
“One of the highlights was their ability to maintain strong tone quality, balance, and dynamic contrast throughout the performance. The students also showed great maturity in their musical interpretation and playing with a high level of expression,” Loui said.
Stasa said that they could have done better, but she was happy with the ensemble’s performance despite feeling rushed in preparation.
“I think we performed well. It wasn’t our best performance but I think with the amount of time we had to prepare for it I think we did fine,” Stasa said.
Loui said that preparation for the festival included working with songs selected carefully for the ensemble’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as working on skills for sight-reading.
“We selected pieces that would both challenge and showcase the strengths of our ensemble, and we spent time refining technical passages, phrasing, balance, and intonation. Sight-reading was also a key part of our preparation, as it’s an important skill assessed at the festival,”
To continue to improve at such a high level, Loui said that the band can focus on polishing the details of their music.
“Even with such a strong performance, there are always areas for growth. One focus for us is to continue to refine our sense of pitch and intonation. This is a pretty high level skill set and the fact that we get to be this nit picky is a great thing,” Loui said.
