GRANTSBURG – On Tuesday, March 28, Frederic, Luck, Amery and Webster middle and high school choirs and bands gathered to participate in the Wisconsin School Music Association Concert Group Festival. Similar to the individual performances of solo and ensemble, the WSMA Concert Group Festivals focus on large group choir and band performances. According to their website, the group festivals are the longest-running core program dating further back than our incorporation in 1932. “Eventually Solo & Ensemble festivals were added and over the years became the most well-known part of the festival tradition. With all that history, people still commonly ask, ‘What exactly is a concert festival?’ Imagine Solo & Ensemble, only for full performance ensembles. Bands, Choirs and Orchestras perform two to three selections – one of which is chosen from the WSMA Festival Music List – for a panel of adjudicators. The adjudicators provide written and verbal critique for the ensemble and award a rating based on defined criteria. Directors also have the option of performing for “comment only,” in which their group will receive written and verbal critiques, but no rating is given.”
Adjudicators present came from various backgrounds and often with local ties. In the choir performance area, Patrick Barnett, executive director of the Shell Lake Arts Center, worked closely with students giving breath and volume tips, as well as former Luck music teacher Janet Holdt. During the Amery Middle School Cadet Band performance, band director Meredith Rhodes-Lundgren and her group received feedback from none other than her previous own director, Chris Boyd, in a sweet moment of exchange.
Goals of participation are to improve students’ music performance, increase students’ understanding of music literature and music concepts, motivate students to continue their study of music, establish standards of excellence in music performance and provide opportunities for students to understand the relationship of music experiences to other life experiences. The concert group festivals run November through May, and teachers from WSMA member schools can register for the events.
