UIL contests are quickly approaching; the school’s band students have been working hard on preparing for this competition. Solo and ensemble will be taking place in late February and Concert Contest will be on April 17.
The band contest students received their music right before Winter Break to begin familiarizing themselves with their pieces of music. Mr. Wright, the band director at Randall, said that there is a lot of work put into the solo and ensemble contests.
“It varies from student to student but there is a lot of individual preparation that goes into this,” Wright said. “Most students who are serious about being successful spend three to six hours outside of the school day rehearsing and preparing.”
Before the band Concert Contest season, Wright must begin looking for music to perform with. He began looking in January to have the music ready and prepared for February. He must prepare two bands with around 75 members each for these contests.
“In UIL Solo and Ensemble Contests our school usually does very well,” Wright said. “We usually have the highest number of participants who will qualify for the UIL State Contest.”
This year the UIL Concert Contest will be held at Randall. During this competition students will be judged on the performance of three selections. The judges will be looking at musicality, tone production and preparation of the music. Wright said that Randall has never scored lower than a 1st Division at this contest. For the UIL Region Solo and Ensemble Contest Wright said that the students usually do very well.
“The students will also participate in sight-reading, where they will perform a piece of music they have never seen before,” Wright said. “It is pretty stressful.”
