All three music departments will be going to contest to compete for superior ratings. They will they perform multiple large ensemble pieces. After that they will be sent to the sight reading room. This tests how quickly the musicians can interpret and perform a piece of music they have never seen before.

Three judges will then collaborate and give each school an overall rating on the performances. The ratings range from I to V, a one being the highest rating.

Orchestra
The Hornet Orchestra will be taking approximately 40 musicians to Park Hill High School to compete on Thursday, April 12. This year, the orchestra will be performing two large ensemble pieces: “Remembrance” by Gibson and “Danza Da Ballo” by Mosier.

The song “Remembrance” is a tribute to the 9/11 attack.

“Danzo Da Ballo” is Italian, meaning “Dance from the ball”. The composer, Mosier, teaches at Lee’s Summitt High School.

“Contest is fun because I get to see talent from other schools. I am sad that this is my last year I will be participating,” senior cello player Sydney Cope said.

The orchestra had two pre-contest performances. One took place on Tuesday, March 20 and the second one was on Thursday, March 22.

Barbara Miller, the Orchestra Director, has high confidence in the orchestra this year. “The performance on Tuesday was good and the performance on Thursday was amazing,” Miller said.

All musicians have been working hard during rehearsals. Due to the hard work, the sound of the orchestra keeps getting better and better.

Band
The North Kansas City Symphonic Band will be competing a day after orchestra on Friday, April 13. Forty-five musicians will perform two songs at the competition. The first song is called, “They Hung Their Harps in the Willows” by W. Francis McBeth and the second song is “Shooting Stars” by Richard Saucedo.

“They Hung Their Harps in the Willows” is a song based off of the Bible verse Pslam 137.

Pslam 137: “By the rivers of Babylon, there they sat down and wept. Upon the willows in the midst of it, we hung our harps.”

The song represents mourning or the end of life. Band Director Carrie Epperson, described the song as “a very deep and dark piece of music.”

Preparing for contest is not as easy as it seems.

“The anticipation before contest is really stressful, but it is so relieving to finally be done with it” Sophomore Caleb McQuerry said.

Epperson stated that no matter how well the band sounds before contest, she will always be nervous. She continued to explain that the students know how to play the music and what they do.

“I have faith in our students. I trust in the band. I always do,” Epperson concluded.

Choir

The choir will take approximately one hundred vocal students to contest on Saturday April 14th. The choir will perform their large ensemble pieces at Park Hill High School.

“I really like singing the songs and the anticipation of waiting to see if we get a I rating” Junior Hannah Pio said.

On Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31st solos and small ensembles from all three music departments competed at Liberty High School.

Five Orchestra Solos along with two duets earned a I (superior) rating. While five solos and four small ensembles earned a II (excellent) rating.

The NKCHS Band achieved a record number of superior ratings. A total of fifteen out of nineteen events that the band took to contest qualified for state.

Three solos earned a II rating and another solo earned a III (good) rating.
The Choir also earned outstanding ratings. Eleven vocalists qualified for state and overall 99% of Choir students earned a II rating or higher.

Solo and Small Ensemble Ratings

Orchestra

These students earned “1” ratings and will go on to State Solo/Small Ensemble Festival on April 27:
Andrea Johnson – senior – violin solo
Sydney Cope – senior – cello solo
Jessica Rambo – junior – viola solo
Sean Brown – sophomore – violin solo
Felicia Williams & Sean Brown – sophomores – violin duet
Leland Williams & Jacob Riley – freshmen – bass duet
Callie Warren – junior – piano solo

These students earned “2” Ratings:
Devon Smith – senior – violin solo
Erika Rambo – junior – violin solo
Josh Harp – sophomore – piano solo
Felicia Williams – sophomore – violin solo
Rebekah Best – freshmen – cello solo
Andrea Johnson, Devon Smith, Corrie Gibson, Sydney Cope, Jackson Taylor – string quintet
Felicia Williams, Elissa Christensen, Jillian VanZandt, Robert Beck – string quartet
Juliana Garcia, Alyssa Robinson, Kasmira Schumaker – freshmen – violin trio
Ian DeWalt & Rebekah Best – freshmen – cello duet

Band