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Northern Regional Music Festival: A Dulcet ExperienceBy Michelle Park, Courtesy of Kent News |
A group of Kent School musicians were selected through a competitive audition to participate in the Connecticut Northern Regional Music Festival held on January 15, 2011 at New Britain High School in Hartford, CT. Organized by the Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA), this annual music festival selects talented musicians from the northern region of Connecticut to gather and perform in Jazz Band, Choir, Orchestra, and Band. Darian Sanders ’13 sang in Choir, and Michelle Park ’11 (violin), Anna Kim ’12 (viola), and Ryan Glenn ’12 (percussions) played in the Orchestra. Kent School musicians Alexander Andracchio ’13, Eleanor Hilton ’13, and Andrew Sur ’12 on clarinets and Ning Lu ’12 on the trombone, played in Band. The group spent almost two full days rehearsing with fellow musicians for upcoming concert. Although physically exhausting, the festival was a precious experience that taught Kent musicians the importance of musical collaboration.
Auditions for the Regional Music Festival, composed of solo music, scales, and sight-reading, are assigned prior to the audition date. These pieces are used to determine the musical skills and levels of the instrumentalists and vocalists. Judges grade the participants while they perform, and the results are available immediately after the auditions. The cutoff score for the festival varies every year as the relative scores are compared to make the final decisions. Regional Music Festival is not only a commitment voluntarily made by Kent musicians, but also a great opportunity to reach a higher musical level. Ryan Glenn ’12 said, “It was fun being surrounded by a large group of skilled musicians. I especially liked one of the pieces that had a great percussion line.”
For members of the Regional Orchestra, this festival was especially exciting because of an interesting request made by some members. During rehearsal, Dr. Joshua Russell, the orchestral conductor asked all orchestra members to move to a different section and play their own parts. The goal of this exercise was to have musicians surrounded by instruments that they normally would not sit near, resulting in all members listening to the larger sound rather than the music confined in their own sections. “I moved from the viola section and sat next to an oboist, and I never noticed until then that the oboe had such a crucial role and melody in the piece we were playing,” explained Anna Kim ’12.
Following the Regional Music Festival there will be auditions for the CT All-State Music Festival, an even more selective competition for those who were accepted into the Regional Music Festival. This year, participants’ regional scores were used to make the final selections for the All-State Music Festival.
