By Akane Fujimura
You stand in front of the judge and tell them your name and perform a song―this is how solo & ensemble works. It will occur on April 5th for students who are in band. Usually, solo & ensemble is optional for anyone who is interested. However, the band director, Ms. Christianson made it mandatory for all of her students.
As Ms. Christianson explained, she thinks it’s a great experience for each student to get good feedback. “Hopefully they’ll desire to do it and those are really good way for them to get feedback from someone who’s not me, because for some of them, I am the only teacher they ever had in three years, and they haven’t got any feedback from anyone else. So it’s nice to hear things from other people.”
Right after spring break in band class, two soloists or ensemble group have to play their music to the entire class every day. “During spring break, I practiced a lot. I wasn’t practicing much before, but when I found out that we have to play in the class, I started to practice a lot. And I told Chris, who is doing ensemble with me, to practice more,” Taurey Bowden said.
Ms. Christianson gave her opinion about what solo & ensemble has to do with the students. “Well, it’s important in band setting to be able to play as a part of the group, but it’s also important to understand everyone that needs to learn to play their individual parts.” As she said, a lot of them don’t have to perform tones as soloists so it’s a good way to do so in a relatively not threatening situation. “It’s not like a concert where there’s five hundred people watching you. Just the judge.”
All musicians are now working hard for the solo & ensemble to perform in front of a judge, while achieving their own goals.