Staff
While some teens got time off over the Memorial Day weekend, eight Sweet Home High School music students signed up for some intensive instruction at one of the oldest music festivals in the United States.
The Pacific University Music Department has hosted a Music in May Festival for high school students since 1948. This year, 88 schools were represented from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
About 510 students applied, said Santha Zaik, Music in May coordinator. The festival’s website notes that the number of applications annually exceeds the number of students accepted.
Nick Rogers, a junior who’s participated in the Sweet Home band program since junior high, had reservations about applying, he said, but he eventually submitted to “peer pressure.”
He said he’s glad he did and is already looking forward to going next year.
It was an eye-opening experience, Rogers said, a big difference from Sweet Home, where the band is “small.”
Sweet Home’s band includes musicians with a wide range of experience, which greatly limits what the group is capable of.
That wasn’t the case at Music in May.
Even when they played the tuning note together – it sounded “amazing,” he said.
“The amount of talent in that room, it was amazing,” Rogers said. “It was awesome.”
Another first-time participant, Zoë Denbo was impressed by the numbers of people involved.
Instead of 20 band members, she saw “400 people who appreciate music as much as you do,” Denbo said.
The event includes three ensembles: a 300-member choir, a 170-member band, and an 80-member orchestra. Applicants are chosen based on their band or choir directors’ recommendations and the ensembles’ needs.
They practiced 18 hours over the three-day weekend and on the final day, gave a two-hour performance for family and friends.
“(You get to play music) with people who appreciate music as much as you do,” said freshman Luke Flierl, who plays the clarinet.
It also offers a more well-rounded sound.
“Instead of 1,000 clarinets, you have four,” Flierl said, exaggerating slightly on the predominance of an instrument that’s popular at Sweet Home.
Choir member Jacqueline Ohmer enjoyed singing with the large choir with so many male voices – which the Sweet Home choir lacked this year.
“It was a lot stronger sound, a more mature sound,” Ohmer said. “The eight-part harmonies, that was some crazy stuff.”
All of the students who were accepted received their practice music about a month before the event, said senior Samantha Ramirez, who attended for the fourth year.
Their first day at the university, they rehearsed for more than five hours, but broke for meals.
The next day, they were up for breakfast at 7 a.m. and off to rehearsal by 9 a.m.
For the Sweet Home students, and probably others, it wasn’t so bad.
They are normally at jazz band practice by 6:45 a.m., so this was like sleeping in, Ramirez said.
Plus, there were the rolls.
“We were still half asleep, and she’s just got a plate of cinnamon rolls,” Ramirez said motioning to fellow senior Sierrah Owen.
It wasn’t all work either – the students had some free time Thursday and Friday night. During an open mic session on Thursday, audience members prompted song topics for performers.
Someone from another school, who was not even in choir, made up a song about pudding on the spot, Owen said.
While many of the Sweet Home High School students plan to attend Music in May next year, this is the last year Ramirez is eligible.
Every year the final concert ends with all three groups performing “America the Beautiful,” Ramirez said. As this was the last year she was able to participate, she was trying not get emotional.
But it’s OK. Ramirez will be attending Pacific University next fall pursuing a degree in music education so she may be able to participate in Music in May from the other side.
“I’m going to try to be one of the helpers next year,” she said.