Friday, June 4
June 4, 2010Tuesday, June 8
June 8, 2010
Achieving superior ratings at the state festival is nothing out of the ordinary for E.D. White’s band and choir.
But with some students doing double duty, achieving both in the same day at different locations – now that’s remarkable.
Add the fact that the band played music far beyond its suggested level, and E.D. White’s 2010 band and choir will long be remembered in Cardinal lore.
“We’ve had a lot of years where we’ve done well, but this one was even more gratifying,” said band director Tim Robichaux. “It made it a great day all the way around for our music program.”
After qualifying for the state festival by receiving a superior score at Regionals on Nicholls State’s campus, the E.D. White band embarked for Lafayette April 29 with its sights set on taking home another set of superior marks in stage and sight reading competitions.
But Robichaux knew how talented his band was, and he wanted to give them more of a challenge.
“We played a tune called ‘Festive Overture,’ and this is a piece that hardly nobody plays, especially high school bands,” said Robichaux. “The kids took to it, and we were able to play it. We were able to go to the state level and receive the highest rankings you could get on stage from judges playing that piece.”
The band also elected to play “Southern Hymn” on stage – another song Robichaux said normally would be reserved for older, more experienced bands.
“When you perform on stage, the three judges make tapes where they talk during the performances about what you can improve on and what you’re doing well,” he explained. “One of the judges broke down on the tape and actually started crying. I’ve never heard that. At the end of the whole thing, he wanted to make sure the kids understood how lucky they were able to play music at such a high level, and it’s not happening everywhere when he goes judge these things.”
The band then proceeded to earn a superior rating in the sight reading competition, earning the school a Sweepstakes trophy for achieving superior in both events.
But for many band members, their day’s work wasn’t over.
“About half of the choir is also in the band… They got on a bus and they continued to travel onto Lake Charles which is where the state choir competition took place,” said Robichaux. “They did the same thing and received superior – the highest ranking you could get.”
The band director said the success of the band and choir comes from strong senior leadership.
“They kind of set the standard in what they do so the other students take to that knowing they can’t let them down,” said Robichaux. “They’ve set the bar, so it has enthused other students to say, ‘If they can do this, maybe we can do this.’ So their leadership was obvious and will help our program for a couple of years.”
E.D. White’s Andrew Aubin (percussion), Katie Heidenreich (clarinet), Anthony Naquin (euphomium) and Ben Robichaux (tuba) qualified for the All State Honor Band – musicians who Robichaux said had the greatest impact on the band’s success.
“There’s a lot of bands that can play technically and do what we did, but a lot of times high school musicians, just because of their age, it’s hard to get them to play emotionally – to play to where you can get somebody to feel something. That’s reserved for professionals,” said Robichaux. “This band was able to go beyond just playing the notes but was able to play with emotion that caused a stir in the audience as well as in the judges which is kind of uncommon.”
E.D. White band director Tim Robichaux and choir director Shonie Morvant proudly display the Sweepstakes trophies earned by both ensembles at State Festival April 29.
