Last Thursday and Friday, band students from Pasco High School performed their solo and ensemble pieces, songs selected by students where the student plays an instrument by themselves, with an accompanist, or with a small or large group of people, at State. They traveled to Central Washington University in Ellensburg to play in the huge event.
The students who participated are:
Christian Valdivia played “Clarinet Sonata Op. 167, Movements I and II” by Camille Saint-Saëns on clarinet.
Madeline Walker played “Airs de Ballet d’Ascanio” by Camille Saint-Saëns on flute.
Santiago Garcia played “There and Back” by Kevin Poelking on bass clarinet.
Oscar Santillan played “Introduction and Dance” by J.E. Barat on tuba, accompanied by Ozman Hernandez on piano.
Jiovanni Marcelino played “Jig” by Mitchell Peters on timpani.
Elise Valdez played “A Cricket Sang and Set the Sun” by Blake Tyson on marimba.
PHS Mariachi played “El Viajero” by José Martínez Barajas and Roberto Sierra Garcia in a small group, and their large group piece was “La Malagueña” by Pedro Galindo, arranged by Osbaldo Chavez.
PHS Percussion 1 class played “Windows of the Maloca” by Jim Casella.
And the PHS Nightingales, Livia Beus, Jada Hill, Henasie Pattee, Harley Kulp, Brooklyn Strom, Alessa Kubalek, Kezia Smith, Hailey Hebdon, Nayeli Magana, Silence Coolidge, and MayLee Hitt sang Lunar Lullaby by Jacob Naverud.
Solo and Ensemble is an important event that students do every year in music classes to help build their musicianship. Mr. Cornell, one of the band directors at PHS, stated, “It’s one of the best, most important things we do all year, the Solo and Ensemble stuff with kids and it focuses on each individual having a vital role in what they’re doing and it elevates everybody’s ability level and you have to be very disciplined to do well. I think it works on all the important things you need to have a good band program, and that’s why we put so much time and effort into it.”
They had a sendoff concert last Tuesday, April 22nd, where they performed their impressive music one last time before they played at State. On Thursday, April 24th, they had their official state sendoff where they walked around the school, but instead of the drumline leading them, they had staff and other band students!
Going into state, everyone was excited and proud of themselves. Mr. Cornell said, “It’s always such a cool thing to even get the opportunity to perform at state, so I was just really proud of everyone who made it there and had the opportunity to go. I was really happy with how everyone prepared, everybody put in a ton of work into what they’re doing, and everybody performed really well.”
The music students performed in many different buildings at Central. Mr. Edwards, another band director at PHS, stated, “Most of it took place in the music building, they also used the student union recreation center and another event center, and a couple of other classroom areas on campus. It was great, I love Central’s facility.”
At State, each soloist and group had three judges grading how they performed their music. Oscar Santillan, tuba player, got a superior rating, the highest rating possible, from every single judge he played in front of. Additionally, Percussion 1 class got 2nd overall out of the whole state. Oscar said, “On [the judges’] paper [the scores are] one, two, and three. One being superior, two being I think outstanding, and three being good.”
Overall, everybody who performed their music did an amazing job and had a great experience at the State competition in Ellensburg last week.
