Celebrating a historic “first ever” moment, members of the Chapa Middle School Wind Ensemble gather around their UIL Region 18 South Zone Sweepstakes trophy, earned by virtue of their top-rated performances in Concert and Sight-Reading at the annual competition. (Photo by Jim Cullen)
by JIM CULLEN
Three local middle school wind ensembles and a pair of symphonic bands performed their way to Sweepstakes trophies in the UIL 2011 Region 18 South Zone Concert and Sight-Reading Contest recently. Chapa Middle School Wind Ensemble won its first ever Sweepstakes trophy. Dahlstrom and Barton middle schools wind ensembles both took Sweepstakes. And Dahlstrom and Barton symphonic bands finished off the top trophy run.
The Chapa, Dahlstrom and Barton wind ensembles are directed, respectively, by Eddie Briskey, Leroy Gerdes and B.J. Sayger. The Dahlstrom and Barton symphonic bands are directed by Sharran Lusby and Amanda Brandt, respectively.
Hosted at the Hays Performing Arts Center, the contest brought strong showings by all five HCISD middle schools. But the judging, as usual, was demanding. In opening-day, symphonic band competition, the Barton and Dahlstrom contingents rode highly-scored performances to their Sweepstakes, though Chapa, Wallace and Simon middle schools all received solid ratings.
In the contest’s second day varsity competition, the Chapa and Dahlstrom wind ensembles both scored perfect 1-1-1 ratings with their Concert performances and Barton Wind Ensemble scored a perfect 1-1-1 in Sight-Reading. Wallace Wind Ensemble took a 1 in Sight-Reading.
Judges for the 2011 contest included Joe Castellano, Jeff Laird and Gabe Musella for Concert and Jim Blacksher, Leland Sharrock and Rick Yancey in Sight-Reading.
The Hays CISD band programs continue their decades-long tradition of excellence and the first view of the programs’ coming success always shows itself at the middle school level. The district’s middle school directors, the foundation of the high schools’ success, uniformly expressed appreciation for their students’ commitment and efforts.
At Dahlstrom, Leroy Gerdes called his wind ensemble’s showing part of “a great day.” Gerdes noted the fact that it had been four years since the Mustang Wind Ensemble took Sweepstakes and “many, many years since both Dahlstrom bands received Sweepstakes in the same year!” Citing his students’ “raising the bar on excellence of performance and achieving way beyond their grade-level expectations,” Gerdes stressed his and partner Sharran Lusby’s pride in both Mustang bands.
At Chapa, Eddie Briskey said, “We are very proud of all of our band students. Everybody worked very hard and did a wonderful job at UIL on both days.” Referring to the historic Sweepstakes “first,” Briskey said, “We want to thank all of the students for their hard work, and our parents for supporting us, bringing kids to rehearsals, and making it out to UIL.”
Barton’s B.J. Sayger, as well, captured the satisfaction he and partner Amanda Brandt felt with the twin Sweepstakes effort. Sayger said he was “super proud” of how both bands performed “and how they carried themselves into the Sight-reading room.” Sayger noted, “the parents, teachers and administration at Barton really support what we do daily in band, and the competition’s ratings are the result of that support.”
