Congrats Waterville High School

Heritage Festival, New York City

Recently Waterville High School musicians traveled to New York City for the Heritage Festival. Not only did they come home with awards but they had a chance to experience part of the culture that New York has to offer.

Chaperone and Waterville High School nurse Ann Bouchard describes the pride in the music students and their trip to New York City:

“So lucky to have been part of this amazing experience with exceptional musicians and people—-our students!!!  Colleagues and chaperones were top notch.  Thanks to our music educators for giving the gift of music to our children and students and for enriching our lives with their gifts.  As was said at the festival, “The arts make our world civilized.”  Thank goodness something does and these educators and musicians have a hand in the civilizing of our part of the world”.

Sue Barre with her son and daughter, juniors at Waterville High School

Waterville music educator Sue Barre words to school staff on the return from New York:

“We had a wonderful few days. First and foremost we would like to share the compliments we received on how polite and well behaved our students are. Kudos to all at WSHS for that”!

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPERIENCE

Ensembles are adjudicated on a scale that is used nationwide at Heritage Festivals. Student ensembles were from California, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, and Maine. This included 700-800 students.

Gold awards indicates scores of 90-100. The Waterville ensembles that earned Gold ratings:

• chorus
• sound check
• strings
• band
• jazz band

Four of the six awards presented for Outstanding Musicianship were presented to Waterville students

• Alex Lecrone – sound check
• Soren Nyhus – strings
• Natalia Fuentes – string
• Aubrey Fossett – band and jazz band

Each school was asked to nominate a student who not only is a strong musician but also a good school citizen, scholar, and overall person. Selected for this award from the entire festival was Waterville’s Soren Nyhus!

• Best overall Band Program – Waterville
• Best overall String Program – Waterville
• Best overall Instrumental Program – Waterville
• Adjudicators Award for Concert Band – average of 92 or more on scores – Superior Performance
• Festival Award for Best Program – Waterville

Congratulations to the Waterville Music educators for their outstanding teaching and preparing students to participate in this event!

• Sue Barre – Band and department chair
• Ciara Hargrove – Vocals
• Graybert Beacham – Strings

Camden Hills Travel to VA

Camden Hills Receives High Marks at Music Festivals

On April 3^rd, 140 Camden Hills Regional High School Band and Chorus students and 14 chaperones boarded three Cyr coaches to travel to Virginia Beach to take part in the Fiesta-val Music Competition.  Despite the 17 hour bus ride, the students were excited to have the chance to sing and play at a National music festival.  A last minute change in plans by the Fiesta-val company to change the festival location from Virginia Beach to Williamsburg, actually became a boon for the ensembles; as they were able to also take part in a concurrent music festival in Williamsburg, hosted by Heritage festivals.

Friday, April 5^th began with a 6:30 AM departure for one bus load of students.  The CHRHS Chamber Singers and Women’s Choir, plus a few loyal supporters, climbed on board for the lengthy ride to Williamsburg to sing before a panel of three judges at the historic Kimball Theater.  While there, the students had a chance to hear choirs from other schools, with fine performances by Lakeland High School from northern New Jersey.  The choral ensembles finished their performing and quickly boarded the bus, with some students changing outfits into Band uniforms, in order to meet the other two buses of students at WarHill High School for the Fiesta-val portion of the day.

The CHRHS Jazz Band performed first, and students quickly grabbed gear and instruments from beneath the bus in their efforts to set up the Jazz Band in time for their warm up and competition performance.  The schedule continued with the CHRHS Concert Band performance, followed by the three CHRHS chorus ensembles: Chorale, Women’s Choir, and Chamber Singers.  Lunch was a dizzying dance of schedules in between the performances, with some students changing outfits from Band uniform to Choral formal wear.

Finally the last leg of the full performance day was near: three buses were scheduled to travel to Heritage High School in Newport News, VA for the Concert and Jazz Band Heritage Festival performances.  Unfortunately, it was at that time that a major snag hit the stream-lined plans.  One bus broke down, refusing to move from the War Hill HS parking lot.  Suddenly, students, instruments, and chaperones were juggled to allow all instrumental students and gear to load on to two buses to quickly travel to the next performance destination.

While the busload of students left behind relaxed in the parking lot, another unforeseen calamity occurred. A major traffic emergency stalled the two functioning buses for over an hour on the freeway- delaying the performance times of the two CHRHS instrumental ensembles. Finally, with determination and goodwill by all; the stranded students were picked up and the 140 students, instruments, and chaperones squeezed onto two buses to make the last leg of the journey back to the hotel in Virginia Beach.

On Saturday, the students had a chance to relax and ride at Busch Gardens and the day culminated in two Award ceremonies. At the Fiesta-val Award Ceremony, schools were graded on a national scale of standards with awards of  Superior, Excellent, Good and Fair.  We are happy to say that Camden Hills students swept the awards:  The CHRHS Chamber Singers, Women’s Choir and Chorale received Superior awards and the CHRHS Concert Band and Jazz Band received Excellent Awards with the Concert Band being only a tenth of a point away from a Superior Award.  Special recognition was given to the Jazz Band as they received the “Outstanding Brass Section Award.”  Judges’ Commendation Awards were given to four individuals: Rebekah Johnson, soprano; Aidan Kaczynski, tenor; Alex Crans, tuba and Camilla Walker, French horn.  The Chorale received a Champion award in their category, and the Concert and Jazz Bands swept the competition with 1^st place awards, the Grand Champion Award, and a Highly Distinguished Conductor Award to Nancy Rowe.

Later in the evening, the Heritage Festival Awards were announced. Again, CHRHS proved that they could perform well, even under the pressure of a long and arduous day. The CHRHS Women’s Choir and Chamber Singers both received Gold Awards with Women’s Choir placing 2^nd and Chamber Singers placing 1^st. Aidan Kaczynski was again recognized for his solo with a Maestro Award. Both chorale ensembles received invitations to next year’s Heritage Festivals of Gold and Carnegie Hall. The CHRHS Concert and Jazz Bands received Silver Awards, with the Jazz Band receiving special recognition; and Orion Krause received the Maestro Award for his solo in “Mr. G. K.”

The musical travelers arrived safely home on Sunday, April 7^th, with many thanks to the chaperones and the bus drivers. Ms. Rowe and Mrs. Murphy would like to thank the Five Town Community for their support of the Band and Chorus students.