A burst of sound erupts from the P-wing, shaking the floors with its rhythmic beats lies the heart of the arts: the band room. Whether it be through a stellar football game half-time show or a classic holiday concert, the GlenOak band program has continued to further its performance and accomplishments year after year.
This time, both the symphonic winds and the concert band received superior ratings at the OMEA District 8 conference. Though quite the accomplishment, this achievement came from lots of hard work and perseverance from the two bands.
Band Director Christopher Irwin led the symphonics winds band to this achievement and has spent much of his energy effectively preparing them for the daunting competition.
“Preparation includes choosing music that supports the goals of the ensemble. Those goals are building musicianship, technical ability and teamwork,” Irwin said.
In addition to keeping these goals in mind, ensemble bands are required to complete certain parameters at the district competition. There are guidelines regarding which pieces must be chosen and the time given to prepare said pieces.
The band is required to prepare one piece from the Ohio Music Education Association’s Adjudicated Events Committee. They provide ensembles with about 15 pieces to choose from and perform but the regulations do not stop there.
“Additionally we have to perform a piece of music that we won’t get to see or rehearse at the event….this is called Sight Reading,” Irwin said. “Students get eight minutes to look over the piece before performing it for a rating.”
Band Director Elyse Laux also guided the concert band group to the same superior rating, following the same guidelines as provided by the OMEA. Laux witnessed her group of students also exercised a great amount of time and effort in practice for the competition and felt gratified when that hard work paid off.
“I felt thrilled when Concert Band received a Superior “I” rating,” Laux said. “I continue to be incredibly proud of the hard work my students put into their craft every day and look forward to what’s next for this ensemble.”
While the achievement was felt greatly by the directors, the students performing also shared that gratification when discovering they had won a superior rating. The hard work put in by both parties was signified by the contest’s outcome.
“The OMEA contest was very nerve-wracking but exciting, and our (concert) band worked super hard and worked weeks and weeks to get what we got,” junior Cora Bankert said. “It was nice seeing everyone cheer when we found out we got a superior rating.”
The concert band has been given a superior rating for the past three years. However, the linear performance of the concert band is not reflected by the symphonics band
“It was a very exciting experience getting a 1 at (the) contest this year, especially since GlenOak’s symphonic winds hasn’t gotten a 1 in 7 years,” sophomore Ava Shreiner said. “It feels great to be the first group of kids to do that well in a long time and I know we’re all looking forward to going to states.”
At the end of April, both bands will be attending the OMEA state contest held at GlenOak. They will compete alongside 25-30 other top high school bands in the state.
After long hours of preparation for districts, the bands continue to work hard for the upcoming competition. Although they have already demonstrated a great accomplishment, the work of the symphonic and concert bands are not done just yet.
