Twelve Panhandle high schools brought a total of 749 students to the Western Nebraska Community College for a full day of music Thursday, April 21. Students competed in various small and large, vocal and instrumental performances at the annual District Music Contest.
The contest is less competitive between schools and more self-competitive, as the main goal of the contest is for students to learn and grow in their musical talents.
“They get written comments from the judge, and the judges are all professional musicians,” site coordinator Nathaniel Johnson, the instrumental instructor at WNCC, said. “…They’ll get a score; the score is not really that big a deal. Everybody wants a one (the best rating), but really, it’s the comments that are going to (help them) get better, and the comments are always very encouraging: ‘Hey, you might want to work on intonation,’ rather than ‘That’s out of tune. Fix it,’ because we all want them to do well.”
Many band and vocal instructors said they were pleased with the way their students performed Thursday. Mitchell choir director Nikki Bunnell said she was proud of her kids giving it their best efforts.
“They travel well and they perform really well, and I’m really proud of them today,” she said. “They’ve all came and just gave it their best. I like taking them places to perform and let them show off a little bit.”
Bunnell said that she wouldn’t be able to give students opportunities like this without the support of her administration.
“(I want to give) a huge shout out to my kids and all the hard work that they put in and a huge shout out to my very supportive admin that don’t ever tell me no,” she said. “I really appreciate all the support.”
Scottsbluff had the most entries combined and brought nearly 150 chorus students alone, according to choir director Brad Ronne. Those students made up four different choirs and two show choirs. He said he always enjoys bringing the students to the contest to see the joy they bring through their performances.
“The kids have done a great job performing and just had fun performing,” he said. “… (I loved) just seeing their joy in singing. We’ve been able to do some performances that just brought joy and brought joy to the audience, and that was fun.”
Gering chorus students might have had the toughest day ahead of them going into District Music Contest simply because they would also be opening their musical “Bye Bye Birdie” that same night. Still, chorus director Shelly Muggli said her students did really well for what they still had ahead of them.
“We didn’t take as many groups as I normally do. We took all my big groups, but we normally have solos and small groups that we do a little more of, but with musical, all my kids that normally do it are in musical and they’re exhausted, and we just didn’t have time to get all done,” Muggli said. “But the groups that are here, it’s been top notch.
“I couldn’t have asked for better performances. The kids have been fabulous. They put it all out there. They’re exhausted, but they put it all out there, and it’s been really, really great today.”
*This article was originally published in the Scottsbluff Star-Herald on Apr.25, 2022. View more photos here.
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