By Kitzia Vazquez, Staff Reporter
May, 2022
On April 23rd, KAC hosted the Charter School Music Competition after being canceled for two years. The schools that competed were KIPP Austin College Prep, Wayside Sci-Tech High School, IDEA Montopolis and lastly our own KIPP Austin Collegiate. Seven of the bands were competitors and only two of the ensembles went for feedback, which were 9th-11th Band from Wayside Sci-Tech High School and the 10th-12th Voice Ensemble from KAC.
Since it was hosted on KAC’s campus, many of our KAC students volunteered to help out by setting up chairs, music stands, tables for the judges and even helped students from the other schools since they didn’t know their way around. Everything to help ensure that competition ran smoothly. Many had stayed the whole duration of the competition until everything was put away, which was a big help.
Before any group went out to perform, they could go into the high school’s band hall or the middle school’s band room to practice, but once they were ready, they headed to the gym where everything was set up for them to perform. After they were done performing, the judges gave ensembles written feedback. Additionally, judges were able to go up to the ensembles and give them verbal feedback to help them improve with their musicianship.
When it came down to scores, the judges had three levels of ranking: Fair, Good, and Excellent. Our own KAC Band, Guitar, and Steel drums had very strong performances earning “Excellent” rankings. But the top three winners were KAC’s Steel Drums in 1st place, KACP’s Band in second, and IDEA Montopolis’ Band in 3rd place. This was huge for our steel drums band, earning their first place trophy after always scoring second place behind the KAC Band. But our guitar ensemble and band hope to come back stronger next year.
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