The OMEA Large Group contest is a chance for the performing arts students to show what they have learned and accomplished in class by performing their pieces in front of an adjudicator. Most choir and band students have participated in their respective contests, but the orchestra students currently in the school have never been before. That is, until this year.
“This is a huge deal. It is a very intense contest,” Orchestra Director Anna Davis said.
There are four levels a group can perform in: class C, class B, class A, and class AA. Chamber Orchestra was part of class A, the second-highest difficulty level. They had to perform two pieces on the OMEA list and one piece off the list. They chose ‘Rhythm Dances’ by Brian Balmages, ‘Lullaby’ by William Hofeldt, and ‘the Emerald Falcon’ by Richard Meyer.
“In order to prepare for the contest, our group practiced the three pieces during class,” senior violinist Vaneesa Panchal said. “We worked on achieving better intonation, rhythm, and balance as a group. Outside of school, our members practiced their parts individually.” They worked on these pieces for weeks, but they also had to focus on something else: the sight reading portion of the contest.
“The hardest part, I think, was the unknown, seeing how none of us have ever done that before in an orchestra,” Mrs. Davis said. “But we’ve been training since day one, studying and collaborating.” The sight reading portion came directly after the stage performance. The orchestra gets four minutes to look over and learn a brand new piece by themselves, and then the orchestra director gets another four minutes to practice the rhythms, notes, and individual sections with the orchestra. During this time, no one is allowed to play their instruments.
“Sometimes I feel like we would have trouble staying together,” senior principal violinist Miranda Li said. “At the beginning, we had a little difficulty with that, but we overcame it pretty quickly.”
After they finished their sight reading, the group was led out of the performing area, where they would await their score. Each piece they performed, as well as the sight reading, is rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the highest rating a group can get. The group ended with ones across the board.
“The best part was that celebration. I loved it from the beginning to the end. I loved every moment of it, to be honest,” Mrs. Davis said. “It brought a sense of pride, accomplishment, and purpose, and definitely strengthened the morale of the group. You can do anything together.”
After months of practice and preparation, the group accomplished exactly what they had set out to do: to earn an OMEA Large Group contest plaque to put in the orchestra room forever.
“I am very sad I won’t be here next year to do it again,” Li said. “If anyone is in Chamber Orchestra next year, they should advocate for doing the contest again next year.”
