Murray, NEB – On Friday, April 22, students from all around the district gathered together to compete in different categories for the district music contest held at Nebraska City High School. Students participating in choir, band and guitar had the opportunity to perform. Each and every student takes time to practice in class with music director, Cassi Vallis. They took their hard work and dedication to the stage and gave it their best shot for the judges.

For choir, all members sang a total of two songs including “Bright Morning” and “J’entends le Moulin.” Along with that, both the men and women had separate pieces in which they sang for the judges. The women’s piece was “Popular” from the musical, Wicked. The men’s group sang the popular song “Hallelujah.” There was a total of three vocal duets and two instrumental duets. Ayden J. and Shelby C. sang “Remember Me” for their duet and Chloe B. and Allisyn B. sang “Benedictus” for theirs. Soloists consisted of Allisyn B., Shelby C., Heather F. and Abigail N.. Band took two pieces of music to the stage as a group and individually had solos from Ella L. (flute), John M. (alto sax) and Stephanie P. (trumpet). Band had duets from Kylie C. and Evelyn M., and Richard C. and John M.. Percussionists including Kayla C., Delaney D., Jacob W., Ella S., Landon Y., Austin G. and Colin D. performed at the contest. The Guitar Ensemble also came along to the contest and brought only one piece to perform.

Each group got ranked on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being the “best” and 5 being the “worst.” Each number rating is considered a division. The top divisions are: division one- superior and division two- excellent. The divisions are based on the amount of critics a group or person received throughout their performance. The contest included live judging which meant that the judges would make comments during the performance. When a comment was made, the group would have to fix the mistake mid performance and then continue. The performances took place within classrooms of Nebraska City High School with other students being allowed in the performance rooms to watch.

Conestoga’s mixed group choir ended up ranking at a low two which is considered excellent. Both the women’s piece and the men’s piece got a two. Solos from Abigail N., Heather F., and Allisyn B. earned a one. Shelby C.’s solo got placed at a two as well as the duet between Chloe B. and Allisyn B.. Ayden J. and Shelby C.’s duet was ranked as a three. Guitars’ performance got ranked as a group at a one. All of the band soloists did well and earned themselves a one. The concert band as a whole got ranked at a one. Both of the instrumental duets ended up ranking at a two.The percussionists who performed ranked at a two for their piece. All in all, Conestoga had a great day performing amongst other schools and earned good scores with the judges.