Bremen Band Rates Well at ISSMA Solo/Ensemble Festivalby Matthew Sutton on February 1, 2015 |
On Saturday, January 31st, 94 students from the Bremen Band program performed at the annual ISSMA Solo/Ensemble Festival in Kokomo. Performances ranged from solos to groups of 5-6 students, and many students performed more than once. The students had been preparing for this day since the beginning of December, and some of them before that. Students performed for the public and a judge, who scored their performance in 9 categories and gave them awards based on the result.
Those results? Fantastic! With a total of 58 performances, the Emerald Alliance earned 41 Gold ratings, 15 Silver ratings, and 2 Bronze ratings.
In addition, the following students entered at the most advanced level, and through their Gold level performances earned a trip to the State level Festival on February 28.
Joshua Staiger (Clarinet solo, 8th grade)
Jessica Hughes (Alto Sax solo, 10th grade)
Benjamin Nick (Trombone solo, 11th grade)
Lorinda Kline (Piccolo solo, 12th grade)
Jazsper SilverRaven (Trumpet solo, 12th grade)
Jon Dani, Benjamin Nick, and Nick Bonebrake (Trombone trio, 11-12th grade)
In addition, the following students earned scores that were 1 point or less away from perfect scores:
Kelly Jones (Baritone solo, 6th grade)
Anna Leeper (Trumpet solo, 8th grade)
Joshua Staiger (Clarinet solo, 8th grade)
Abigail Harman (Alto Sax solo, 9th grade)
Ryan Jones (Tenor Sax solo, 9th grade)
Brooke Kertai (Alto Sax solo, 9th grade)
Ellen Fox (Flute solo, 10th grade)
Parker Pace, Zach DeBaets, and Jessie Hughes (Sax trio, 9-10th grade)
Alyssa Bailey, Jacob Schweisburger, and Breanna Erickson (Flute/Clarinet Trio, 9-10th grade)
Robert Compton (Trumpet solo, 11th grade)
Finally, the following special students earned perfect scores for their performances, a rare event in the Solo/Ensemble world!
Matthew Harman (Bells, 7th grade)
Brian Hernandez (Baritone, 10th grade)
Congratulations to all the performers-- we had a very good year this year, and it could not have happened without a lot of discipline and hard work.