Students compete in Solo Contest

On Saturday, March 6, RB students competing in the IHSA solo and Ensemble Contest met at Reavis High School for a day-long music competition. Students from RB Band, Choir, and Orchestra, as well as other schools in the IHSA district  were all there to play solos or in ensembles for a judge and receive a score and a ranking.

Teachers present included Kevin McOlgan, Diane Marielli, and James Baum. Many of RB’s private music lesson teachers were also present.

The IHSA Solo and Ensemble contest happens every year in February or March. At RB, band and orchestra students are required to participate, either playing a solo or in an ensemble. Choir students have the option of doing either but are not required to do so. For the contest, students prepare songs or pieces to play for the judge, memorizing the music and trying to make it as good-sounding and accurate as they can. Students in ensembles will practice together before hand so they sound great together.

Junior Kevin Dinh and Sophomore Sarah Otmanski both competed in the solo contest, playing the flute. Dinh received a rank of 1, the top possible rank, but before his judging said that he was “nervous and excited.”

Solo contest is an important part of a musical student’s year. It represents, according to Marelli, “the culmination of all the hard work the students put in all year.”

Musicians perform annual Holiday Concert

On Friday, December 11^th 2009, RBHS musicians preformed the annual Holiday concert for both students, staff, parents and other community members. During the day, the musicians preformed an abbreviated version of the full concert for students and staff. Later in the evening, the full concert, involving all musical groups performing all their prepared music, took place.

This year, due to construction on the building, the concert was held in the gymnasium, as the auditorium is mid-renovation. While probably not the ideal location for the concert, as the gym isn’t built with acoustics in mind, the gym worked well enough and the concert was still able to be held. The renovated Auditorium will be back in use for future concerts.

Band Director James Baum was very pleased with the concert, stating, “I thought [the winter concert] was great! All the groups sounded wonderful, but I was especially pleased with the orchestra, the chamber orchestra, and the Jazz ensemble.”

Students in all music departments, band, orchestra, and choir, preformed various holiday songs for the crowd. The concert started out with the combined ensembles playing all together and ended with the traditional playing of “White Christmas” with alumni helping to sing.

The night lasted about an hour and a half, and was filled with over twenty musical acts. Highlights from the show included the Chamber Orchestra playing “Winter” by Vivaldi featuring freshman Kenzo Esquivel, and the Madrigal Singers singing a highly comical rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The Jazz ensemble’s tunes were also a crowd favorite.

Baum added, “Senior Jim Sit played a really artistic and tasteful solo on Gingerbread Boy, and Kenzo Esquivel and the chamber orchestra were sublime.”