A total of 26 solos and 4 different ensembles from Tomball earned first division rating this past Friday, as 52 students performed at the UIL Solo and Ensemble contest.

There were also several students who were able to qualify for the UIL State Solo & Ensemble State contest. The students who qualified on their solos include: Anna Jaud, Rebeca Kortz, Loren Williams, Evelyn Hernandez, Hannah Steed, Georgia Dowdy, Kennedy Shalloup, and Garrett Williams.

The students who qualified on their ensembles include for Trumpet Quartets: Hayden Ford, Kiah Green, Johnnie Jones,  and Taylor Pope. Euphonium Quartets include: Chris Alexander, Bradan Baskin, Andy Dominguez, and Noah Schaberg.

“To be honest, after the performance of my solo, I felt really discouraged,” said Rebeca Kortz (11th). “I thought I messed up completely and I didn’t even think I’d come close to getting a one.”

This is the hardest part of the process, having to perform in front of judges who know nothing about you, but have very high expectations of how the certain piece of music should be played. The way you get a one depends on how much and how hard they practice their solos, but is does it really get the pressure off their chests once they’re done?

“Whenever I found out that I made state, that enlightened me and gave me so much happiness because I worked on this solo for so long,” Kortz said. “I was so overwhelmed with joy and I’m happy to say that hard work is rewarded, that you should have confidence in yourself and strive for greater goals after you have accomplished others. I know everybody else who made it feels the same way and I’m very proud to see how far we’ve come through the long run.”

So it’s pretty relieving to get a solo performance out of the way as long as the student knows that their hard work has paid off, but can it be easier to be in an ensemble, or just as hard?

“For me, it was just a great experience being in an ensemble,” Kiah Green said. “We practiced after school every week and really became a great team.”

As explained, hard work eventually leads up to the main event: the performance. Whether or not the performance was exactly how an ensemble wanted it to go depends on the time, team work, and effort put into practicing the piece up to the day of performing.

“After our performance we never would’ve imagined making it to state,” Green said. “Once I found out later that day I was so thrilled. I felt like all our hard work had paid off and I was so excited to be able to look forward to the great experience we will be able to share with each other.”

Please give all these students a congratulations for their hard work on their solos and ensembles and wish them luck for their State performance.