To be one of the best at your passion and be able to show off your prowess is a feeling unlike any other. Some of Sahauro’s top band students recently auditioned and were selected to participate in the AMEA (Arizona Music Educators Association) South Central Region Music Festival. The performance took place on Saturday, February 15th, 2020 at Palo Verde High School.

On the Friday before the performance, there was an all-day rehearsal for the students who made it in. This would be the first and only rehearsal the students had as a full ensemble. The music was learned before then, so the time together could be used to adjust to the concert space and the group, rather than individually learning music.

The audition process for this ensemble requires the student to learn all of their musical scales, as well as a small packet of music pieces. Two of the many scales were randomly selected and performed with the music live in front of judges. Ms. Engel believes that not only the audition, but also the group rehearsals and performance, help to break student’s anxiety about performing in such a high-level ensemble, and says that “being surrounded by the best of the best in our region is an amazing experience, and being able to learn off of others. There is not a single person who has gone through this process and gotten worse.”

The students performed the pieces, “Three Revelations from the Lotus Sutra, Movement 3,” by Alfred Reed; “The Witch and the Saint,” by Steven Reineke; and “Festive Dance from Faust,” by Charles Gounod under the direction of Dr. Rob Hunter from Mesa Community College. There were accompanying choir and orchestra performances that night as well.

Sahuaro junior, Beth Seal, auditioned and made it into the festival as first chair flute in the orchestra. She said her favorite part of performing in the festival was “being with a big group of different people who have worked hard to get there, and feeling like all the hard work and time you put into music pays off.”