On Monday Jan. 26, Campolindo Band students and faculty performed at the Wind and Percussion Ensemble for the community at the Campolindo Performance Arts Center. A unique experience for student musicians, the showcase reflected the skills and hard work they had put in over the weeks leading up to the show.
“During band class, we spent most of the periods going into our ensembles with coaches… we drilled parts of the piece over and over,” said freshman french horn player Oliver Spivey. Spivey was in the woodwind quintet and he and his ensemble played two pieces: “Rustic Holiday” and “Andante Gracioso.”
One aspect that differentiated this show from others was the format. Grouped in small ensembles, students first performed in front of university band conductors who ranked the group performances and determined the top 3 ensembles who would play at the concert.
“It felt good to get professional feedback from somebody,” said sophomore trumpet player Owen Burge. Burge’s quintet performed first in the performance. He felt the judge’s feedback really enhanced the group’s overall performance. “They provided insight on how we can play together as a group instead of everybody playing their part and listening to everyone else. [They taught us] how [we] should be playing.”
“…[The Judge] had a scoresheet that we had access to and could look at,” said senior bass player Neta-Li Lustig. Lustig also played in the first quintet and shared some of the factors that went into the judges’ grading. “You were scored on musicality, timing, tone, quality, and stuff like that.”
Lustig continued, stating that ensemble performances forced a lot of students to focus on their individual preparation. “…We all practiced together in chamber music which is not something we normally do. It’s like every man for himself, you can’t hide behind other people.”
As earlier noted, Campo music faculty also performed. Spivey, Burge, and Lustig all felt that the teachers’ pieces added a special quality to the show. “One of my coaches, Kevin, played a saxophone piece that sounded really good,” said Spivey. “They all sounded really good.”
Campo band holds no doubt that the lessons from this past experience will further amplify their next show.
