The music department hopes for a full sweep of superior ratings at OMEA contest
One thing all musicians can agree on is that preparing for a Large Group contest can be one of the most stressful yet exciting times of the school year.
Large group is a judged concert, run by the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA). Ensembles are taken to play in two settings for different sets of judges.
The first time the group plays, they take three prepared pieces to show the judges. They will try to perform with their best tone, dynamics and overall musical ability. The groups receive feedback from each judge after the contest to help improve the ensemble.
The second time the group plays for a judge, they sight-read. For sight-reading, the OMEA judges choose a piece normally in a lower level of difficulty and pass it out to each player. The musicians then get a few minutes to look through the piece with their section and time with their director before they play the piece as close to perfection for the first time.
The music department will be taking six ensembles to Large Group. Each group hopes to receive a 1, also known as a Superior rating. For choir and band, districts and states take place on different day
s. However, for orchestra the two are condensed into one contest.
Orchestra
Hayes Players and the Symphony Orchestra have already gone to Large Group at Granville High School to represent the Strings department on Feb. 21. Both ensembles came home with a superior rating and a plaque to recognize their accomplishment.
They performed three pieces each. Due to the orchestra’s state and district Large Group judging taking place on the same day, they can choose to be qualified at a state or a district level. Both groups were judged on the state level, so they performed two pieces from the OMEA list.
“[I prepare my students by] trusting that the routines that we have set in place will set us up for a fantastic performance, no matter the nerves that come into play when we are performing for something higher risk,” orchestra director Allison Parrett said.
In order to prepare for Large Group, the students rehearsed five days a week to work on their pieces and improve their sight-reading skills. The deciding factor for Large Group though, wasn’t the preparation, but the execution.
Large Group raised the stakes and students felt the nerves. Nonetheless, most students are in orchestra due to their love of music.
“To me, a superior rating is just like your work paying off,” said senior Julia Foley, a student in band and orchestra.
Band
Symphonic and Concert Bands will be going to Large Group to showcase the band department’s talent on March 8 at Westerville Cent
ral High School.
They will each be playing three pieces, one of which is from the OMEA list. The bands have been working on these pieces since December, trying to perfect them as much as possible. Symphonic Band’s OMEA list choice was Industrial Loops. This piece has a mechanical feel and was described as producing a loop.
“I think [it’s] really cool because you get different features from different sections,” Foley said.
One unique aspect of Hayes’ band is the tendency to choose at least one march. Both groups will be performing a march; this has been a recurring theme for some years. Concert Band will be playing Imperial March and Symphonic Band will play
Silvercrest.
“I’m most excited for the culmination of working on these pieces, trying to get them as perfect as possible and then going to the adjudication and seeing how well we can actually perform,” band director Bill Fowles said.
Last year, both bands got a Superior rating at Districts and then an Excellent rating at States.
Choir
On March 7, Symphonic Choir and Chorale will travel to Large Group at Westerville South High School.
One of their pieces has been chosen from the OMEA list and the other two were chosen based on the groups’ strengths and interests. One piece that Chorale will be performing is Er Ist Gekommen, which is sung in German.
“It’s really fun because I always love doing pieces in other languages,” said Adelina Lopez-Wurth, a student in Chorale.
For ratings, judges take into account everything from specific tone and pronunciation, to the overall musicality. It is important for the groups to remember this all the time, even during sight-reading.
“The most exciting thing for me is to watch the students grow and progress to reach that state level at the end of the year,” choir director Dara Gillis said.
In previous years, the music department has gotten a reputation for superior ratings and working its hardest. From each end of the department, every student works together to produce their best performance.
“We’re not so worried about whether or not we get a superior rating as whether or not we really learned something and we really started making good music,” Gillis said.
