Every year, the Mighty Hornet Band sets up students to do solo and ensemble for a chance to advance to state. This year’s brass ensemble, “The Hornet Brass”, advanced to state and will compete in May.
Solo and Ensemble is a competition for students to learn chamber music and compete as soloists or in small groups. It’s a UIL event, meaning students must be academically eligible to compete.
“I was signed up to do a Class 1 solo and the brass ensemble, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t done before,” baritone section leader Calvin Duncan said.
Chosen students must play music off an approved state list and be as accurate as possible. The music is graded as Class 1 (hardest) to Class 3 (easiest). Students who play a Class 1 piece may advance to state if they receive a First Division rating. In addition, solos must perform from memory in order to advance to state.
“I’ve been in solo and ensemble for three years and been apart of an ensemble for all those three years, and it has been an extremely fun experience to play a piece of music my ensemble and I have worked very hard on,” tuba section leader Landon Kahler said.
Ensembles consist of the same class and ratings when it comes to where they place, but the requirements are slightly different. The ensembles must play well enough to mesh together and sound cohesive, but also stand out enough for the judge to hear their part.
“After we played, I was a bit nervous because I knew the mistakes that could happen and we did make a few, but the judge was very complimentary and quite kind and told us what to work on to improve and sent us on our way,” Frenchhorn section leader Landon Bloxom said.
The Hornet Brass ensemble members consist of Kenleigh Bias, Landon Bloxom, Calvin Duncan, Landon Kahler, Jacob Owens, and Will Walston. The piece played by the brass ensemble was called “Bartok For Brass”, which some of the ensemble members were familiar with. For members who have never seen the piece, it was seemingly challenging, but they overcame their complications and advanced to state.
“[I’m] very proud of all the students that participated,” band director Jonathan Kelly said. “It takes a lot of guts to prepare a piece and perform by yourself or with just a few other people. Those who saw it though deserved a lot of credit.”
