State festival brings high school musicians to campus

  Wednesday, April 13, 2016 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

High school choirs, bands and orchestras from across southeast Kansas will be on the Pittsburg State University campus, Thursday, April 14, for the annual Kansas State High School Activities Association State Music Festival for Large Groups.

Doug Whitten, festival director associate professor of music at PSU, said hosting this event, as well as the Solos and Small Ensembles Festival last weekend, is a big undertaking for the department, so nearly everyone, including PSU music students, pitches in to make sure it runs smoothly.

“The format is that each ensemble performs music a few pieces of music for three judges and they earn a rating,” Whitten said. “One piece of music comes from a state list to ensure they are performing music at a minimal difficulty level.”

Nearly 30 schools are scheduled to attend the festival, which begins at 8 a.m. and will run all day. Choral ensembles will perform in McCray Hall’s Sharon K. Dean Recital Hall. Bands and orchestras will perform in the Linda & Lee Scott Performance Hall in the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts.

Schools scheduled to participate include:

Choral ensembles

Chanute High School Freshmen Choir, Ft. Scott High School Beginning Choir, Riverton High School Men, Neodesha High School Concert Choir, Baxter Springs 9th & 10th Grade choir, Riverton High School Women, Ft Scott High School Concert Choir, Galena High School Concert Choir, Riverton High School Choir, Fredonia High School Concert Choir, Baxter Springs 11th & 12th Choir, Pittsburg High School Women’s Chorus, Independence High School Women’s Choir, Labette County High School Women’s Choir, Pittsburg High School Men’s Chorus, Independence High School men’s chorus, Labette County High School Choraleers, Pittsburg High School Encore, Independence High School Concert Choir, Field Kindley High School Women’s Ensemble, Columbus C High School oncert Choir, Oswego High School Choir, Labette County High School Chorus.

Bands and orchestras

Baxter Springs High School Concert Band, Labette County High School Concert Band, Chanute High School Band, Fort Scott High School Band, Girard High School Concert Band, Independence High School Concert Band, Frontenac Jr./Sr. High School Band, Field Kindley Concert Band, Columbus High School Concert Band, Independence High School Wind Ensemble, Pittsburg High School Wind Ensemble, Fredonia High School Band, Cherryvale High School Concert Band, Galena High School Band, Riverton High School Band, Neodesha High School Band, Altoona-Midway middle school/high school Band, Longton-Elk Valley Wind Ensemble, Fort Scott High School Orchestra, Independence High School Orchestra, Uniontown High School Cooncert Band, and Oswego Jr./Sr. High School Band.