Article final

Cole Jolovich
April 22, 2009
English 2
Northeast District Music Festival

On April 21, and April 22, 2009, the Northeast Music festival kicked off at eight’ o’clock a.m. The first day we had an exceptional show, according to the judge, yet most of the other ensembles’ had astounding performances also. Since this event is not a competition and it will give out certificates for specific rankings on a scale from one to five, with one being the best. We seemed to get a lot of ones and twos, which was much better than last year. By better I mean that one of the ensemble’s we had the judge wouldn’t even let them finish their song. It was terrible because for some reason the piece they worked on for months sounded like them trying to speak Korean. For the rest of the day they were moping around because they got a five, which is terrible. Even the choir group did excellent on their songs. This was unusual since the judge did not seem like the nicest person and was very nit-picky about some of the littlest things. She was very different from the choir judges that I have seen the last couple of years.

The next day there were only a couple of pieces played and sung. These songs were not done as well as before, but we still acquired a little praise from the judge. Our main moment was in the song John Muir Suite, which is divided into four parts, because the judge and Mr. Clark were part of a group in the county that had played this song and had said that it was a fairly challenging piece and that we played it well. Our other song, Concert Variations, did not get as much recognition, but it still sounded good for how complicated some of the parts are. As an overall rating we only got a two, but that still is a good score to receive at this event. I didn’t get the opportunity to hear the choir, but I did hear that they did well. They also received some good comments from the judge. From what I gathered they received either a one or a two; the same as they did the day before in their other pieces.

As a whole we had a great showing in Buffalo and Sheridan the last two days. Since this is generally a tough time for some students anyways without having to know some music that we would be graded on. Also this event can be difficult and nerve racking, but we pulled off some great performances for the judges and spectators to remember. Even though not all of us got one’s and two’s, as a whole we still did very well especially when we broke up into our littler ensembles. To listen to us play and sing; come to our Pop’s Concert on May 19, 2009, at the TRHS Auditorium. There will be new, more exciting, pieces for us to perform on stage.