thelegendonline News, Uncategorized

CMEA Band

 

By Katie Tran

 

On May 7, Concert Band and Wind Ensemble attended CMEA (California Music Education Association) at Graham Middle School from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Wind Ensemble earned a Unanimous Superior rating while Concert Band earned an overall rating of Superior.

CMEA is a festival where music groups from a variety of schools attend to perform for and receive feedback from professional adjudicators. They are graded on aspects of performing and the event is a measure to see the proficiency of a band.

Wind Ensemble played three movements, which they have been practicing very hard on since as far back as November. They also practiced for the sight reading section. Wind Ensemble had not received Unanimous Superior since 2015 so this was a great accomplishment.

“These past two years have been kinda rough on band, so I’m hopeful that we will make a comeback with that unanimous superior this year,” expressed piccolo player Maggie Nguyen.

This was Concert Band’s first time attending CMEA because they are all freshmen. As this was their first year, they put a lot of work into preparing for this performance.

Despite a few small errors throughout their performance and a big obstacle, Wind Ensemble still received the highest rating possible at CMEA.

“One glaring hardship that the group encountered was that one of our percussionists had gotten food poisoning the day of the performance, so we were missing a vital musician,” said Maggie.

There are different ratings for each tier for a score out of 100: 90-100 is superior, 80-90 is excellent and so on. Last year they got a mix of excellent and superior.

“Our goal for next year is to get unanimous superiors again,” said trumpet player Aaron Lee.

Other schools that performed include Evergreen High School and Independence High School. There were four professional adjudicators for the festival overall, three for the performance with prepared songs and one for the sight-reading portion. They usually change every year. CMEA is also for choral groups and orchestral groups but each group attends on different dates.

Band’s hard work paid off in the end as they achieved their goal and surpassed their previous scores by receiving unanimous superior for the first time in four years.

 

thelegendonline Fun Page, In-Depth, Uncategorized

Senior Playlist

Amit Chand:

  • Mile High – Travis Scot

Eric Luu:

  • J. Cole – Middle Child

Alex Ho

  • Reborn – Kid Cudi

Vincent Hoang:

  • Slow Dancing in the Dark by Joji

Chloe Nguyen:

  • Make It Right by BTS

Chris Vo:

  • Blessed by Daniel Caesar

Tommi Virtanen:

  • Sunflower – Post Malone Swae Lee

Thomas Chan:

  • Rich Brian – History

Kevin Su:

  • Bread Dreams – Dark Cat

Andrew Do:

  • Don’t know what to do – Blackpink

Judy Ng:

  • Started – Iggy Azalea

Benjamin Chen:

  • AKMU Dinosaur

Tim Chuang

  • ordinary day – logic

Vivian Lin:

  • lowkey – niki

Jason D:

  • Reckless – Arin Ray

An Truong:

  • still alive – trippie redd

Aaron Jiang:

  • Long time – Playboi Carti

Don Vu:

  • Nav – Tap
thelegendonline Features, Uncategorized

Concert Choir workshops with Dr. Benson at SJSU(San Jose State University)

Concert Choir workshops with Dr. Benson at SJSU(San Jose State University)

By Justin Wang

Concert Choir attended a choral workshop at SJSU (San Jose State University) to join is Director of Choral Activities at SJSU, Dr. Jeffrey Benson, and his students on March 8 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

“He just listened to us, then gave us tips on vocal quality and dynamics to prepare us for performances and make our pieces concert-ready,” said senior Lilly Liu.

Dr. Benson conducted the choral warm-ups and many of his students came in and directed the Concert Choir.

“His warm-ups are really cool, funny; he would have his own students come in, lead up and direct. We get to see different perspectives of people directing. And how they did it, they were all different,” said junior Jeremiah Porda.

Concert Choir practiced the pieces “Canti cum novum”, “Hela Rotane” and “Good Night, Dear Heart.”

“I think he’s very knowledgeable and he gives us a lot of great tips. He reinforces the things that Mr. Ellis says and he helps prepare us for concerts,” said Lily.

This workshop provided unique experiences and a look into the workings of college choir for some Concert Choir students.

“I’m looking forward to performing with college students. It’s going to be cool to see how college choirs work,” said Jeremiah.

Dr. Benson and usually holds workshops with PHHS Concert Choir semi-annually, but in recent years Concert Choir has not been able to meet with Dr. Benson at SJSU.

“Dr. Benson usually visits us like twice a year, but we never really go to SJSU,” said Lilly.

Dr. Benson is a member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) according to sjsu.edu, the official SJSU website.

The website also notes that choirs under Dr. Benson’s direction have been invited to perform with notable figures such as the Rolling Stones, Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli.

thelegendonline Features, Uncategorized

Music/ChoirDisneyTrip

By Sarah.Shafaeen

The PHHS music students left for their Disneyland trip last Friday. The trip was meticulously planned and the music students have been working hard to be ready for their performances.

“The Disneyland trip is usually planned by Mr. Ellis and Mrs. Ray. They organize the itinerary and contact the festival organizers. In instrumental council, we also help with the process by filling out paperwork and letting that music students know what’s happening regarding payments and fundraisers,” informs senior Symphony Orchestra member Asher Twu.

Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble performed “Ave Maria” composed by Franz Schubert, “Rumble on the High Plains” composed by Michael Sweeney, “Festivo” composed by Vaclav Nelhybel, the third movement from George Bizet’s Symphony, “Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia” composed by Aram Khachaturian and “Danse Espagnole” composed by Tchaikovsky.

The event is something the music students really look forward to.

“I’m excited to go on this trip because it only happens every two years and it’ll be a fun experience that I’ll be able to share with my friends in my last year of highschool. Also, I’m looking forward to eating dole whip again,” states senior Varsity choir member Samuel Dai.

The choir classes will perform the traditional Indonesian song “Hela Rotan,” “Good Night Dear Heart” composed by Dan Forrest and “Canticum Novum” composed by Ivo Antognini.

Many students were excited about all the activities and fun events that have been planned.

“We will leave on Thursday for Disneyland and arrive near evening. The performance itself is on Saturday, so we’re going to Disneyland on Friday. We’re also planning to watch the Aladdin musical and we’re visiting a university for an organized lunch one day. On Saturday, after the performance, there is an awards ceremony. We arrive back in San Jose on Sunday in the afternoon,” discloses Asher.

Others were eager to visit Disneyland itself because the park is where they will make long lasting memories.

“I don’t go to Disneyland often so I’m just looking forward to exploring the park with my friends and then performing,” comments senior Wind Ensemble member Neha Kaza.

Many of the students were ready to see all of the hard work and effort put in throughout the year pay off through the performance.

“I’m sure all music students are excited and nervous for the music festival, including myself. The Disneyland trip itself will be fun, but we’ve put in a lot of practice for the performance, so we’re hoping to be able to pull off all the pieces we’re going to be performing. While Disneyland is sort of a reward for performing, the performance itself is exciting. There are four rankings: superior, excellent, good, and needs improvement. We always aim for the superior, and first place if we are competing with other schools,” states Asher.

The Treblemakers, performed “Voice Dance” composed by Greg Jasperse, “Bumblebee” composed by Anders Eroth and “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” composed by Manning Sherwin.

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