Congratulations to our CNE students who recently performed at the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) Solo Ensemble Competition on Saturday, January 22. This is a competition for students from band, choir, and orchestra programs in Clermont and Hamilton Counties to prepare pieces and receive ratings based on their performances for esteemed music judges in the area.
“I’ve been preparing students for Solo and Ensemble for 20 years,” describes Chris Moore, Director of CNE Bands. “This is a chance for students to work on a more difficult piece with a smaller group. In a non-Covid year, students would also have the opportunity to hear students from other schools perform as well. It’s a great day for the arts.”
25 students prepared pieces to perform for the competition, but many were affected by illness or other events. In total, CNE had 14 students compete. Students are able to perform in groups or individually, and pick pieces to perform from a list provided by Solo and Ensemble. Pieces are categorized into Classes to show their difficulty, with Class A being the highest difficulty. The following groups performed and received the top rating of I:
The CNE Brass Quartet performed Marche Millitaire in Class C – this group had a student learn a trombone part the Thursday before so they were able to compete!
The CNE Percussion Ensemble performed Three Amigos in Class C – they had a student added as a substitute that morning, and another student had to switch parts right before the performance, and sight-read the piece!
Shawn Huff performed The Legend of a Two Eyed Soldier Snare drum solo in Class A
Nolan Reed performed Introduction and Dance Euphonium solo in Class A
In addition, the CNE Saxophone Quartet performed Three Miniatures in Class B and Brad Richardson performed the snare drum solo On-Line in Class B.
“It feels good to be getting back to doing normal band things, like going to away football games,” states Director Moore. “We got the opportunity to perform at all the CNE football games, Ohio University Band DAy, the Ohio State Skull Session, and were able to have an indoor December Concert.”
In addition to getting back to more normal band events, The Marching Rockets marching band has been accepted to perform at Disney World in May!