Student musicians in preparation

This Saturday, hundreds of high school musicians will be performing at the annual OMEA Solo & Ensemble Contest at St. Marys Memorial High School.  Each year, the Ohio Music Educators Association holds a performance event where student musicians get to perform solos and ensembles before a respected adjudicator to receive critical and constructive comments, as well as a rating from I (Superior) to V (Poor). This event has been going on for many years and I know some of you participated in your school years, or had kids who did.

Music education in our schools, especially in the middle and high school levels focus and have focused for many years on group (band and choir) instruction.  This no doubt teaches team work as well as music reading ability and creative musicality.  However, true musicianship is learned by getting to know and conquer your instrument, be it wind, percussion or voice.  The better each individual musician becomes, the better the ensemble will generally be.  This is true in school bands, choirs, church choirs or even on the professional level.

Solo & Ensemble Contest is one built-in way of insuring that student musicians better master their instrument.  It also requires discipline.  Anyone who has fervently worked on music knows this to be a fact.

It recently dawned on me how much music requires discipline, much like a good athlete.  I was at our local YMCA last week on a Friday night (a rare Friday night free!) and I saw running on the treadmill one of our finest local athletes, Jared Fleming, a senior at VWHS.  He is an All-State runner and he was putting time in on his craft: running.  When I asked how far he had run, he answered, “Ten miles!” He then said, “I would rather be at the basketball game.”  Instead, he knew it took discipline to stay at the top of his game.  I started thinking about how it reminded me of a good musician.  When a day of work is done and most go home to relax, serious musicians begin practicing.  I realized this fact while in college.  While other students were partying on weekends, I would be in a practice room, working on my craft.

For 11 years, the Van Wert County Foundation has been sponsoring the Van Wert County Young Artists Recital at First United Methodist Church.  It gives the public and fellow music teachers and students the opportunity to witness some of the finest performances at Solo & Ensemble Contest.  Most often, students perform in front of a small classroom of a few friends and family members.  The Young Artists Recital puts these young musicians on a stage with excellent acoustics and allows them the opportunity to perform for a larger audience.

This will be the case on Sunday, February 17, at 3 p.m.  The 11th annual Young Artists Recital will be held, featuring solos and ensembles from Crestview, Lincolnview and Van Wert High Schools.  It is open to the public and I hope many of you can attend.  It not only is entertaining and interesting, but also shows support to many of our outstanding students who have dedicated time to music.  Many alumni of this recital have gone on to perform in University and College choirs, bands, and marching bands.  Some have performed on local TV, national TV, and some have gone on to have professional careers in music and other fields.  One thing I can guarantee you; standing alone on a performance stage in front of a large audience makes one grow up real fast!

Good luck to all the Van Wert County School musicians who are participating in Solo & Ensemble Contest this Saturday.  We look forward to hearing the best of you in our Young Artists Recital in a couple weeks.

FINÉ.