Kickin' Brass

Carter's school played host to the area Solo & Ensemble competition today. Some 600 middle and high schoolers with varying degrees of musical talent descended upon Assumption around sunrise and kept judges and volunteers hopping throughout the day.

Among the first in the door were Jim and me. Since it is such a huge undertaking to host this, all music student parents were encouraged to volunteer in some capacity. We took the only thing that fit in our schedule -- working concessions from 6 a.m. (not kidding) to 8 a.m. -- and allowed us to get to work.

We probably had the easiest shift, doing all the setup and prepping for the day. The hard part came after we left. And I'm not talking about selling bagels and puppy chow. I'm talking about performance.

Carter played in three ensembles today -- a large all-brass ensemble, a double trio with low brass and woodwinds, and a duet pairing his big bad baritone with his friend Mason's trumpet. Despite his recent thoughts of quitting band, Carter does have a natural talent for tooting his horn and, therefore, showed no signs of angst about performing before a judge. He's quite confident in his abilities and should be.

After the first ensemble, he texted me at work and said it went well. That was the last I heard from him until the end of the day when he informed me he got a first-place ranking in all 3 ensembles! Now he wasn't ranked against other ensembles necessarily, but more on what the judges expected to hear and hoped to hear in an optimum performance. At the high school level, if they get a first, they go onto state. For middle school level music, a first at this competition today is the best they can do. Awesome!

After his duet, Carter said the judge said there was only one thing about the song she didn't like -- "And that was that there weren't more people there to hear it!" What a compliment! We are so proud of him.

He's kickin' brass and takin' names!