With concert season in full swing, band students are preparing for the UIL state solo and ensemble competition on Saturday.

“Unlike marching competitions, students will have to prepare themselves for the competition,” assistant director Tyler Elvidge said. “The competition itself is a lot more important than the ones a lot of students have participated in before.”

In order to advance past the initial solo and ensemble contest, students need to earn a score of one on every division category judged by professionals. This includes mastery of the music and having the entire solo memorized, without sheet music.  

“It becomes more difficult for some students to exceed,” Elvidge said. “They have to memorize about 2 to 3 minutes of advanced music for their instrument.”

Despite what Elvidge says is a challenging competition, senior Sumedh Potla is looking forward to the competition.

“With this being my last year playing the saxophone in school, it’s exciting to be able to perform again at a competition,” senior Sumedh Potla said. “The last time I did a live contest was right before the pandemic, so It’s great to be performing again with my friends.”

Students that advance past the first stage of solo and ensemble will have the opportunity to continue in the state competition hosted in Austin during late May.

“I am personally excited when I hear an opportunity to leave the school and go somewhere else to compete,” freshman Janhavi Swaminathan said. “For me, that’s what made competitions so fun, and I would like to advance in order to have the chance to experience a convention down at Austin.”