Reporter, Emma Nolan
@emman_courant
Between theatre productions, choir galas, and concerts, the winter is a eventful for student musicians. Not only do students constantly practice for their own classes, select students even spend their winter preparing for the prestigious Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA) Western Regional Festival.
For previous years, NCHS band, orchestra, and choir students have been auditioning in early November for a spot in the January Western Regional Music Festival, at Trumbull High School. Teachers including
band teacher, Scott Cranston, choir teacher, David Gomez, and orchestra conductor, Leo Ficks, all encourage their students to audition for a chance to be a part of this festival.
“In November, we had students across the music sphere audition by themselves, in one on one auditions, to be scored and critiqued for development,” Mr. Cranston said. “When the top students were selected, they are then given the music for the concert, practice on their own, then again rehearse that music together with college and professional guest conductors, to then present a concert of their work that Saturday night”
For the NCHS musicians, Western Regionals requires a lot of practice and dedication to their music. Not only do students have to practice on their own, practice time with the entire ensemble at Regionals is very minimal.
“There are only two rehearsals for Western Regionals, the Friday before the performance, and the day of the concert,” senior Kyle Street, a band student, said.
Though time may be lacking for practice, the students feel well prepared for the concert performance, due to the preparation and attention they are given in class. “My experience in band has largely helped me make it into Western Regionals the past six years, due to the fact that band has kept me active on my instrument, in addition to helping me to grow over the years as a player,” Kyle said.
Similarly, Mr. Gomez feels that his choir students are well prepared for the Western Regionals performance, due to the effort and time put in by the students. “A lot of the repertoire that we do in our high school concerts is challenging, or even harder then the music performed at regionals, because we have more time to prepare,” Mr. Gomez said. “The students only have two days to get ready for their concert, while we have several months, so when they get to the setting for Western Regionals, the singers know what to expect.”
Not only do students dedicate a lot of their time to their music, but the school also helps prepare students for performances, such as Western Regionals. “I think we are really well prepared because the school district cares about the arts, so they invest time so that the schedule is where it needs to be for the student to succeed,” Mr. Gomez said. “students have the necessary practice time, and are really well prepared, because of that time, because of the resources we have, and because of the teachers we have.”
Sophomore choir member, Tessa Piontkowski, agreed with Mr. Gomez reguarding preparation before the performance. “I get voice lessons at the Performing Arts Conservatory of New Canaan and I worked a lot on sight-singing over the summer,” Tessa said. “I prepared the song with my instructor and Mr. Gomez incorporated the audition pieces into the NCHS Concert Choir curriculum so the students auditioning got extra practice and guidance.”
In addition to choir and band students, four orchestra students also attended Western Regionals this past January. Sophomore Jason Campe, a cello player, has been playing in orchestra for 8 years, and this is his
second year at Regionals. “Mr. Ficks has helped me prepare by having me play through the piece for the whole class a day or two before the audition, which helps me get used to performing it under pressure,” Jason said. “On my own, it was just about practicing. I had to set aside time every day before the audition to keep working on the pieces and scales.”
Although the NCHS music department may not be as big as other Fairfield County performing arts departments, NCHS had fifteen total students accepted, with nine from choir, on an all time high.
Mr. Ficks is proud of the music department’s accomplishments this year. “For a school of our size, and the number of kids that we have in our music program, we do very well in proportion to other schools that have bigger class sizes, and more people in our ensembles,” Mr. Ficks said. “I would say we have a very good track record of the number of kids that audition that get in.”
Despite the intensive practice and process, the festival allows students and teachers to learn much more about music and performing arts. “I think for a lot of kids the whole process is really inspiring,” Mr. Cranston said. “They learn new music and do their thing and really get into this. I would say it really opens their eyes to see how many kids do this at a really high level.”
