Band students at Liberty High School showed off their musical talents on March 8 for solo and small ensemble.

This is an opportunity where they competed alone or in small groups and are evaluated on their musical skills. The students are rated on a scale from one to five. Three soloists, a trumpet trio, and a trombone trio from Liberty earned ones. The solos were Gabby Nettles on flute, Loryn Dotson on flute and Luke Carter on baritone. The trumpet trio consisted of Analisa Kercher, Kiara Jimenez and C.J. Lamasters. The trombone trio was Elaine Amery, Dylan Nordmann and Henry Roos.

Luke Carter explains the journey on getting a one and what this competition means to him.

“I enjoyed practicing for solo and small ensemble because it did not only get practicing my horn, but it made me understand music more,” Carter said. “I learned about how to not just play the song, but how to interpret the music and express it more vividly as a musician. I practiced every day and had a lot of fun especially working with my very talented accompanist, Mr. Skroblus. Overall, I will be doing this again next year not just for the rating, but for the amazing time.”

If you earned a one, you move on to state solo and small ensemble. State solo and small ensemble is a musical evaluation of musical abilities on a higher grading skill. Students from around the state will be competing in this event.

Another competition the whole band participates in is large ensemble. This is where the band performs a number of songs and gets evaluated on a 1-5 scale. Last week, band earned a 2.

“I thought the rating was the right one, and I was very appreciative of the feedback that we received from all of our adjudicators,” band director Mrs. Magno said. “I’m proud of our kids, because this was some of the most difficult music that we’ve ever played. We did one piece in particular that was very different from anything we’ve performed before, and I thought the band did a great job with taking on the challenge of learning how to perform in a new style and grew tremendously throughout the learning process.  We’ve still got some work to do in the sight reading room, but that’s going to be a challenge every single year as a 5A band (the highest MSHSAA classification in music). However, I was pleased with the prepared part of our performance and can’t wait to see how we continue to improve when we return next year.”