Last Saturday, the music department of Manhattan High woke up bright and early to grace the halls with their talent, showcased in the Kansas State High School Activities Association Regional Solos and Ensembles.

The event brought along various different schools within the West Campus as they all convened to perform with a few students experiencing the mingled feelings of excitement and anxiety.  

“It’s a lot of pressure to perform well,” Chris Carter, junior, said. “It was a very stressful time for pretty much everybody involved, just because you often times are responsible for your own solos, but then you’re in other groups, and you’re responsible for the sound of that group as well.”

In preparation for the event, MHS orchestra, choir and band selected a few pieces for ensembles and more music for independent solos to practice over the course of a few weeks.

“The classes that you’re in like orchestra and band, they’ll usually give you a couple of days here and there to prepare for ensembles, especially for the bigger one,” Ben Stephens, sophomore, said. “For solos and small ensembles and for more specific instruments like trumpet or French horn, that’s really your own time.”

Some performers arrived at various different hours throughout the day, beginning with choir at 12:30 and continuing through to the instrumental groups. A few even arrived earlier to give moral support to friends and classmates also competing.

“I had arrived early at the competition to watch a friend’s solo,” Ethan Myer, sophomore, said. “I was nervous and I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

The competition received mixed responses from those performing, most pleased with their result but others more anxious to receive their full score. The experience of playing in front of a critical audience also created nervous tension within students.

“It wasn’t as nerve-racking as I thought it was,” Stephens said. “Whenever you go into a room, you’re only playing in front of a couple of people who come to see you… it’s not as intense as some other festivals where you have multiple people watching you.”

Their anxiousness was considered a bit of an ordeal at first, but as they powered through their performances, all the music groups were able to later appreciate the experiences brought on by the stressful day.

“I think stress from performance enhances the sound that you produce,” Carter said. “It creates an energy that is apparent in what you play, but it does cause some problems that judges can notice, so it’s kind of a double-edged sword.”

The event follows last Friday, when the Jazz Band traveled to Washburn University. This is the first time the band performed there and certainly won’t be the last. They were thrilled at their score of one, a superior rank considered the highest score.

“Out of the three judges… one gave us a one rating and the other two judges gave us twos,” Stephens said. “We’re pretty good but we fell like that we could do better. We were hoping to get twos and ones.”

Each student in the music department felt somewhat happy with the outcome of the day.

“It was a pretty fun experience and I’d do it again,” Stephens said.