By DEB BENTLY
Staff Writer
“We were pretty much flawless,” observes NRHEG bass clarinet player Calvin Haun regarding the “superior” rating the secondary school band received at the regional large group music contest on March 7. “Mr. Z pushed us really hard, and it paid off.”
Flautist Josie Strom concurs: “I was really proud of us as a band,” she says. “The judges gave us really tedious, detailed remarks about what we could do to improve. That tells me we didn’t make very many mistakes.”
“We played well,” says percussionist Sam Christensen. “We had good strong rhythm, articulation and dynamics.
“And we did what Mr. Z told us to do.”
“I was really proud of how focused the students were before and during our performance,” observes band director Colin Zidlicky. “It made me proud to be leading them.”
Both the choir and the band performed for a brief public concert on Monday, Feb. 27, partly as a warm-up for their participation in the contest a week later on Tuesday, March 7. The contest was held in Waseca and featured groups from many area schools.
The choir received an “excellent” rating, which group member Aden Berg regarded as “reasonable.” He says he mostly enjoyed the experience of being there with his fellow choir members and making good music. His favorite of the three numbers the group presented, “Elijah Rock,” has “a good beat” that made everyone “feel like dancing.
“I was just there, and I wanted to sing,” said Berg, who sings bass.
Drum major and trumpet player Anton Domeier felt that the complex rhythms and time signature of one song played by the group and the rich balance between band sections required by another very likely contributed to the strong rating. “On paper, it doesn’t look that hard,” he observes. “But it becomes very powerful when everything is balanced correctly.”
Also powerful is the song “Earthdance,” which makes rich use of various percussion instruments to create an impression of a rainstorm, complete with thunder, in a jungle. “We were the first to perform it,” says Domeier, pointing out that the group which came after NRHEG also played the song. “I believe we impressed the judges with our version,” said Domeier, further observing that the group which followed them did not perform it to the same level.
Choir director Krista Reeder observed that the NRHEG students represented the school and the music programs very well, both in terms of their performance and their behavior throughout the day. “We’re proud of them and all they accomplished,” she said.