The Campbellsville University Percussion Ensemble and the Taylor County High School Low Brass Ensemble will be playing at the Kentucky Music Educators Association Conference on Friday, Feb. 6, in Louisville.
This is an opportunity for the teachers and students to be able to showcase the musical talent the region has at a statewide level.
In order to perform at this conference, instructors must send in recordings of their ensemble to be considered.
“We submitted two pieces from last year,” Chad Floyd, Ph.D., the percussion instructor at Campbellsville University, said.
He said they submitted a mallet quartet and a traditional percussion piece. He also mentioned that an audience had to be present to meet the video submission requirements. Floyd said their audition stood out because of the ensemble’s musicianship.
CU percussion students learned they had been selected in July of last year.
“If these guys weren’t motivated, I wouldn’t have submitted this tape,” Floyd said. “It’s just for the students. I wouldn’t have even thought about it if I knew that they weren’t going to rise up to the occasion.”
Lilly Beattie, a percussion student at CU, said she was excited and shocked to learn they had been selected to play at the conference.
“In all honesty, I was kind of just shocked. I was very proud of us for working that hard to get there,” she said.
Performing at KMEA is a great honor, according to Floyd and Beattie.
“It’s a really big honor to have what may be my future bosses/coworkers watching me perform before I get the degree,” Beattie said. “It’s like a showcase for myself before I even get out there.”
Beattie said performing at KMEA reflects well on CU’s music program because it shows the dedication that not only the students put in, but the professors, as well.
“Dr. Floyd cares about exposing CU students to the outside music world,” she said.
According to Floyd, the ensemble will perform five pieces total. Two of these pieces will feature every member of the ensemble and the remaining three pieces will feature smaller chamber ensembles.
Floyd said he has been very intentional with rehearsals to ensure the ensemble is ready to perform. He said rehearsals have been a little different because they are not focusing on a large amount of repertoire compared to a regular semester. Instead, they are focusing on these five pieces and providing critical feedback to one another.
“We are spending more time cleaning each piece under a microscope,” he said. “And because in a normal year, we don’t have as much time to repair, we don’t have as much time to clean.”
Beattie also noted the attention to detail in rehearsal.
“It’s honestly just been what can we do to make it to the next level of nitpicking,” she said. “I say that like it’s a bad thing. It’s not. We’re holding ourselves to such a standard by playing at KMEA.”
Floyd wants to use this performance as an opportunity for students to receive feedback and criticism from other music educators.
“Well, educators, they’re in the classroom. I mean, they’re teaching students, so they have a different level of appreciation, and I think they’re going to be able to speak to more specific things that they hear,” he said.
While the percussion students will receive feedback from other music educators, they will hold the attention of many high school students.
Beattie is excited to see what recruitment for the percussion studio and the music department as a whole will look like after performing at KMEA.
“I’m really excited to see what we bring [in] from KMEA because there’s going to be a lot of high school eyes on us during that,” she said.
She hopes their performance gives future students something to look forward to.
“At the end of the day, we’re doing what we like,” she said. “It’s a fun activity and we just get to show off how much we love what we’re doing.”
Floyd said the performance will be good for the School of Music and the community of Campbellsville as a whole.
“Obviously we’re representing the university at a very prestigious stage,” he said. “And that’s good for the music program and it’s good for our university and it’s good for the city. I mean, it’s good for everybody. It’s a win-win.”
Floyd emphasized how this is a performance of a lifetime that students will always remember. He’s only conducting two of the pieces because he wants to stay out of the way and let the students shine.
Steven Bishop, the band director at Taylor County High School, said he has a similar perspective about his students.
“I knew we had a really special group of musicians this year,” he said. “They work hard and are very talented performers. I wanted to give them a very high goal to aim for.”
Logan Bishop, a TCHS senior in the ensemble, said he learned they had been selected during band camp in July on his birthday, surrounded by his peers.
“I was mainly excited for the group as a whole to have the musical opportunity to play great music and perform for amazing people,” he said.
Steven said he believes they were selected because of strong musicianship, interesting repertoire choices and student leadership.
Logan has been attending Taylor County schools his whole life and is eager to represent his school.
“To represent the district and something bigger than myself is truly awesome,” he said.
Steven said he and the group are honored to have this opportunity.
“It’s one of the highest honors a program can receive. We are thrilled and honored to have been selected,” he said.
According to Steven, the TCHS percussion ensemble played at KMEA a few years ago and this helped inspire the entire program to achieve the goal of playing at KMEA.
Logan said he’s most excited to see the group approach music with a new perspective.
“The people in the group are the future of the arts, and the future is bright,” he said.
Steven said he wanted to thank those who helped make the opportunity possible.
“Daniel Beams at TCMS—he helped cultivate and encourage these students when they were in middle school,” he said. “Also, all of the folks who give these kids private lessons. Finally, our school and community for supporting musicians like these fine students.”
For Logan, this performance is especially meaningful.
“This performance shows that just because we live in a rural community,” he said, “doesn’t mean that we can’t be just as good as the big cities.”
