On Saturday, February 17th, 2024, choir, band, and orchestra students from across Southern Arizona performed in Sahuaro’s very own auditorium, for the Arizona Music Educators Association South-Central Region Music Festival. This concert was a one-day event, but the journey to get there started long before that.

Auditions were held in January at Palo Verde High School, and students got their etudes around the start of the school year to start practicing. Once audition results were announced, students received their music and scores back and started practicing on their own. The main all-day rehearsal took place at Sahuaro on Friday the 16th, the day before the concert. Students had to be seated at 8:30 and stayed until 5:30, with breaks in between. The day started with part checks and chair placements, and there were teachers and students scattered around the fine arts building listening to and playing the pieces.

On the big day, to say the auditorium was packed is an understatement. Every row in the auditorium was filled, and the ticket booths in the front of the auditorium were up and running, which doesn’t happen often. This festival rotates between 3 different schools: Sahuaro, Sahuarita, and Palo Verde. This year was Sahuaro’s turn, and Ms. Barnes and Mr. Schmidgall had been working tirelessly since the start of the year to prepare by ordering, repairing, and borrowing equipment, and ensuring the auditorium stays in pristine condition. They ordered 200 new chairs, and new risers for the choir, and have kept the auditorium clean.

Ms. Barnes, Sahuaro’s choir teacher, was not only a host, but she was also the Choir Chair for the region. Her duties included, but weren’t limited to, sending plenty of emails, securing the clinicians and judges, setting up the audition schedule, making sure auditions were running smoothly, sorting music, and sending out results once the audition weekend was over. She has served as region chair before, and she says it’s, “…exciting. It’s really exciting. And this is not my first region, I mean we’ve hosted here twice before, but even at Sahuarita and at Palo Verde it’s just a really fun, exciting, rewarding weekend because you watch all these students get this opportunity to work with a really good director and work with other students that are the best of the best in our region. It’s very fun.”

Many choir, band, and orchestra students made it in, and Mr. Schmidgall, the band and orchestra director at Sahuaro, said he felt,”… proud. Honestly, I feel like for regionals it’s less of a reflection of me and the work I do, and it’s more just a reflection on you guys and the students. The students put in the work, and they put in the time and the dedication it takes to pass that audition.” Ms. Barnes said they, “…celebrate a lot of those things in our choir. We celebrate people’s success and stuff, so they were all really excited for each other.”

The concert started with a performance from the South-Central Region Festival Orchestra. The clinician Sean Bresemann, a current doctoral student in orchestral conducting at the University of Arizona with his undergraduate degree from the College-Conservatory of Music, was the director of this orchestra. They played Overture to Rienzi, Slavonic Dance No. 8, Berceuse and Finale, Firebird Suite, and Danse Macabre.

Cello player Ava Soto, a junior at Sahuaro, participated for the first time in the regional orchestra this year. She said practicing with the orchestra was,”…quite different from practicing with the school orchestra. Instead of focusing on specific skills like intonation and rhythms, our conductor focused on the big picture, like how we played musically as an ensemble.” She said she,”…loved the variety of instruments, and how loud we could get.” The regional orchestra is a full symphonic orchestra, compared to the only string orchestra at Sahuaro. Ava enjoyed playing music she doesn’t get to usually play in class, and she wished she had tried out for regionals sooner because her experience was fulfilling. She said, “I learned so much in a very short amount of time, and I had fun. There’s something rewarding about playing in a large orchestra with like-minded people.”

The South-Central Region Festival Band, directed by clinician Jennifer Hamilton, the Director of Bands at Red Mountain High School, received her Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Georgia and a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Kentucky. She conducted the pieces Legacy, Chasing Sunlight, Rippling Watercolors, and Variations on a Korean Folk Song.

Aliana Trotter, a junior at Sahuaro and first chair in the bass clarinet section for the regional band, also participated in the regional band for the first time. She started preparing for auditions around October and practiced at least every weekend. She was excited to make it in, and when Friday came and the building was full, she said, “It was honestly shocking but really exciting.” Her favorite memory was meeting the low reeds and the people in her section, and she said the rehearsals felt like, “…two hours compared to like however long they were.” When asked about the overall experience, she said, “I thought it went really well. I was really honored to be playing in that band, and I’m really proud of myself and all the other students for participating and working hard.”

The performance ended on a high note with the South-Central Region Festival Choir. The choir was directed by their clinician Dr. Marcella Molina. She leads the Tucson Girls Chorus, and she received her degrees from Westminster Choir College and the University of Arizona. The choir sang Tshotsholoza (Go Forward), Jam, Stomp on the Fire, Holding the Light, Down to the River to Pray w/ Bring Me Little Water, Silvy, Son de la Loma, and Santa Maria, Strela do Dia. 

Seniors Aubrey Phull and Valerie Juarez both loved the music they sang and the experience they had. Valerie has been in the region choir for 3 years, and she was glad it was held at Sahuaro this year because, for her, the choir room is, “… a room I feel comfortable in, so being able to do these things that are kind of out of my comfort zone somewhere where I’m really comfortable in is really nice.” Aubrey expressed her gratefulness for the opportunity to perform her dream choir song, Down to the River to Pray, and Bring Me Little Water, Silvy. She said, “I didn’t even have any stage fright going up on stage in front of everybody. I just didn’t have that. I was really really excited to perform this. It was so surreal.” 

The energy was felt throughout the auditorium with each performance. From solos to instrument switches and the electric movement from the choir, the South-Central Region Music Festival was a success! The effort and talent of the students, the wonderful clinicians, and everyone who worked behind the scenes put on a spectacular performance.