Instead of simply competing in a music festival, the concert band received the advantage of attending workshops and university campus tours during their Southern California trip, April 22-23.
The group first traveled to Azusa Pacific University for a music workshop and later performed at Biola University. The 15-person group won second place against bands over three times their size.
As a bonus, the band was given the opportunity to play alongside Azusa’s concert band during the workshop, which offered sophomore Sean Carter a unique experience, he says.
“I thought that it was fun [playing alongside the college students] because we had never had a full orchestration of our pieces,” Carter said. “I like playing with a small band, but it’s nice to play with other musicians; I played beside five other trumpet players and it was great.”
For members preparing for their futures, like freshman Matt Adams, the opportunity to visit both schools gave them added information of universities with strong music programs.
“I learned from Azusa the most, but they both gave us a lot of information and I came away with a lot,” Adams said. “I would like to study music at Biola because my dad and family went there and it feels like home. I want to major in worship ministries and recently they opened up that major, plus the requirement to minor in Bible will help me with my future.”
In addition to the colleges’ impressions on some students, music director Michael Ogdon says he was pleased with the students’ musical abilities throughout the trip.
“The Biola experience was a much better reflection of our skills,” Ogdon said. “I personally was very happy with our performance. The intonation, blend and musicality of our presentation was impressive.”
Sydney Carlson ,’11, agrees that the performance went well.
“I thought that it was cool to see the different bands playing at each school [Azusa and Biola]. I think that this performance was the best one we’ve done thus far,” Carlson said. “I was satisfied with this, but I think we could do a lot better. I hope we can improved these both by the time the Heritage Festival comes around.”
Along with achieving the purpose for the trip, to perform and learn at the schools, Frank Daniel, ’11 says he enjoyed the community aspect of the trip most.
“Red rover was definitely my favorite part because I loved watching people get ‘powned,'” Daniel said. “When Zed [Fries, ’12] got thrown to the ground by Nick [Avery, ’12] and Sean [Carter, ’12] was the best moment by far.”
After reflecting on the entire adventure, Ogdon says the trip was successful.
“The trip went very well, and I do fell it did, though not so much for the music parts,” Ogdon said. “Our time together in a variety of van group, walking on campus tours, eating meals… Those times will be fond memories.”
For more information, read the April 20 article, College festival to evaluate band or the April 9 article, Spring concert highlights jazz, concert bands. Or e-mail Ogdon.
