Each year the Plymouth High School music department participates in the Indiana State School Music Solo and Ensemble competition. This year, the event was hosted at Kokomo High School on Saturday, January 31st.
Numerous students from the band classes competed in the event throughout the day. Plymouth High School annually advances numerous students to the state level competition and this year was no exception. The band sent twenty-nine students to contest in Group I entries. This is the highest level of competition and students must earn a Gold Award rating in Group I to advance to state. Out of the twenty-nine entries, twenty-six of them advanced to the state finals. “It was a really good day for our band program,” said PHS director Bryan Ames. “Only three of our events in Group 1 did not advance to state and they each missed it by one half of a point. It was exciting to see some of our students qualify for state for the first time.”
The following entries advanced to the state finals:
Haley Balkema: clarinet quartet
Anthony Boener: brass sextet
Callie Burch: clarinet quartet
Eric Burch: horn solo
Cameron Carter: brass sextet
Gabe Celmer: brass sextet
Ashley Crosby: flute trio
Alex Fox: brass sextet
Karly Gruett: oboe solo
Jacob Hildebrand: percussion ensemble
Patrick Houser: percussion ensemble
Will Houser: snare solo and percussion ensemble
Brandon Knepper: percussion ensemble
Tyler Petzke: snare solo and percussion ensemble
Annalise Piazza: clarinet quartet
Cassandra Salach: brass sextet
Jennifer Sayer: flute trio
Sophia Smith: snare solo and percussion ensemble
Sarah Tanner: alto saxophone solo
Mariah Tepper: clarinet quartet
Jared Thieling: brass sextet
Olivia Wendel: flute trio
Autumn Wilson: percussion ensemble
Competing in Group I, but not advancing to state finals were:
Ashley Crosby: flute solo
Ben Fager: flute solo
LeaAnna Miller: trombone solo
“Advancing to state finals is very tough,” said Ames. The required music lists for the Group I events is mostly college-level and advanced music that takes rigorous practice to achieve a successful performance. I am very proud of the Plymouth students and how well they did working to prepare their performances for this event.”
Numerous other students also competed in this tournament in Group II and Group III. These students included:
Eric Burch: trumpet trio (Gold Award)
Hope Carter: tenor sax solo (Gold Award)
Audrey Himes: clarinet solo (Gold Award)
Jillian Miller: tenor sax solo (Gold Award)
Isabel Nunez: flute solo (Silver Award)
Cassandra Salach: trumpet trip (Gold Award)
Jared Thieling: trumpet trio (Gold Award)
Congratulations to all of the band students that chose to attend this competition and represented Plymouth High School so well. Good luck to the students that will be competing at the ISSMA State Finals on February 28th.
Photo 1: Flute trio members (left to right) Ashley Crosby, Jennifer Sayer, and Olivia Wendel pose after their state qualifying performance.
