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Chelsea High School band students honored

Photo by Crystal Hayduk. Trumpet Choir – (Back, left to right) Lily Manahan, Katharine Struk, and Olivia Beauchamp; (front) Drew Lewis, Zachary Wireman, Charlie Dahlgren, Jeremy Northrup, Alex Lewis. Not pictured: Lucas Glendening, Brendan Hackett, Luke Vella

 

By Crystal Hayduk

Chelsea High School (CHS) Band Director Rick Catherman announced that a soloist and two ensembles were recognized for their outstanding performance at the State Solo and Ensemble event, hosted by CHS on March 17.

Their respective judges nominated them to submit recorded auditions for the Michigan Youth Arts Festival (MYAF), which will be held May 10-12 at Western Michigan University.  

Photo by Crystal Hayduk. Lisa Kaiser.

Flutist Lisa Kaiser was nominated for her solo performance of “Concertina” by Cecile Chaminade.

The trumpet choir, made up of Olivia Beauchamp, Charlie Dahlgren, Lucas Glendening, Brendan Hackett, Alex Lewis, Drew Lewis, Lily Manahan, Jeremy Northrup, Katharine Struk, Luke Vella, and Zachary Wireman, was nominated for “March Militaire” by Schubert, arranged by Richard Jensen.

Rounding out the honored band students are Nathan Caister, Emily Chizek, Madalyn Davis, Kara Feldkamp, Kira Frahm, Erin McDonnell, Ethan Pfeiffer, Matt Rohlman, Emily Rosolowski, Spencer Smith, and Kayla Sweeny, members of the clarinet choir. They played “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart, arranged by Richard Jensen.

CHS students have performed at the MYAF in the past, although none of those who auditioned this year were ultimately selected for the final event. “However, being nominated to audition is a real honor for our students, and reflects the dedication of our students, and the commitment of our band program, to achieving the highest level of performance,” said Catherman.

Catherman works alongside the other band teacher – currently Beach Middle School Band Director Katy Steklac, but previously Jim Otto, who retired in June, 2017 – to meet the needs of student performers at their individual levels of ability.

“I’m able to differentiate my instructional strategies, as I assist our students in choosing music literature and chamber ensembles, that allows them to realize the greatest musical growth as individual student musicians, while at the same time providing the most educationally rewarding large ensemble experience as members of the Chelsea Wind Symphony (advanced level high school band), and the Chelsea Concert Band (intermediate level high school band),” said Catherman.

“The solo and ensemble performance experience greatly enhances our students’ learning and development as musicians, and the ability to work collaboratively within our co-teaching structure allows our students to take advantage of this learning opportunity,” he said.

About Michigan Youth Arts Festival:

The MYAF’s mission is to promote excellence in all branches of arts education. About 1,000 high school students participate in the festival, selected from a pool of 250,000 students statewide who begin the rigorous and competitive eight-month adjudication process at the start of the school year. (Information from https://www.michiganyoutharts.org/about.html.)    

Photo by Crystal Hayduk. Clarinet Choir – (Back, left to right) Erin McDonnell, Kayla Sweeny, Noah Thompson, Nathan Caister, Ethan Pfeiffer, Madalyn Davis; (front) Emily Chizek, Emily Rosolowski, Spencer Smith, Kira Frahm, Kara Feldkamp. Not pictured: Matt Rohlman.
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