Solo & Ensemble Competition

For the first time in more than 15 years Forks High School band students played, performed and competed at the 2016 .......

February 18, 2016 7:02 pm
Marissa Bailey — Sophomore French Horn (State) Chelsea Bicunias — Sophomore Trumpet (State) Carly Linquist — Senior Flute Kathryn Curtis — Sophomore Flute Chelsea Hudson — Freshman Clarinet Brynn Peterson — Sophomore Tenor Saxophone/Bass Scott Archibald — Sophomore Bari Saxophone Max Buckner — Freshman Alto Saxophone
Marissa Bailey — Sophomore French Horn (State) Chelsea Bicunias — Sophomore Trumpet (State) Carly Linquist — Senior Flute Kathryn Curtis — Sophomore Flute Chelsea Hudson — Freshman Clarinet Brynn Peterson — Sophomore Tenor Saxophone/Bass Scott Archibald — Sophomore Bari Saxophone Max Buckner — Freshman Alto Saxophone

By George Rodes-Spartan band instructor

For the first time in more than 15 years Forks High School band students played, performed and competed at the 2016 Region Solo & Ensemble contest in Port Angeles. Other participating schools included Chimacum, Port Townsend, Sequim and Port Angeles which involved band, orchestra, voice and piano solos and ensembles.

Students are adjudicated by highly respected music teachers from outside the region including Seattle and Kitsap County. Students are judged on a strict set of criteria and if they perform at the highest level, can advance to the state level. They are graded on a one to five (1-5) scale and only can advance if they earn a 1st division rating. A 2nd division rating is excellent with very few mistakes and a 1st division rating is top notch with almost no errors. All of the Forks band students earned at least a 2nd division on their performances and two students scored top honors to move them forward to the State level competition to be held in Ellensburg at the end of April.

Students who competed were Chelsea Bicunias, trumpet (advanced to State); Marissa Bailey, French horn (advanced to State); Scott Archibald, Carly Linquist, flute; Katheryn Curtis, flute; Chelsea Hudson, clarinet; Max Buckner, alto saxophone; and Brynn Peterson, tenor saxophone.

In addition, a huge part of the students’ success goes to Wendy Bicunias who was the students’ piano accompanist. She played and performed all of the students’ piano accompaniments, worked and practiced with the students closely throughout the learning process and quite simply did an absolutely amazing job. Many thanks to Wendy for her hard work and dedication to the students. We are extremely proud of these students’ accomplishments and performance as they made school and band history this weekend.

On March 2, both the JH and HS Bands will be competing in the 2016 North Olympic Music Education Band Concert and Contest in the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. It has been many years since the Forks bands have gone to this contest and they are looking forward to carry positive traditions of excellence and success to the school and community!