Ganado High sends six to 2A Solo & Ensemble
Ganado High School is sending six students to the 2A State Solo and Ensemble this year: senior Kara Tupa, senior Julie Sulak, junior Chandler Gabrysch, sophomore Trace Green, sophomore Gracie Moore, and freshman Alex Briones.
Sulak and Briones are also competing in the solo category, each playing a piece on the marimba, which they explained is like a xylophone but larger, with soft mallets. Sulak is playing Furioso and Valse in D, a piece quick and furious in some places, while switching into a slower beat before going back into a furious mode.
“I wanted a faster piece that had slow parts in it,” Sulak said, in order to give conflict within the piece.
Briones is playing Yellow After the Rain: a steady piece in rhythm, but one which requires four mallets, causing the player to use special concentration in squeezing or stretching the mallets in order to play particular notes simultaneously or in succession. He said he’s been working on the piece for several months.
Their director, Mandy Keen, said both learned their music without much help from her at all, because they really understand how to practice.
“Alex and Julie are super dedicated and aren’t strangers to hard work, they’re amazing,” Keen commented. “I’m honored to have them in our band
see GANADO SENDS SIX on page A3 program.”
Headed to state Shown are the Ganado students who competed at Regionals; the ones lifting a medal are the students moving on to State. From left, front, Cody Novak, Kadin Higdon, Sonny Hicks, Sophia Barajas, and Trace Green; and back, from left, Braelynn Reeves, Alex Briones, Julie Sulak, Gracie Moore, Chandler Gabrysch, and Alessandro Quinones. Contributed Photo
The ensemble’s piece is titled Edge of the World. Gabrysch said the piece is slow, very blissful and it all comes together in a pretty way, yet staying dissonant at the same time.
Moore nodded. “Most pieces, the parts go together, but not this time, it stays more separated. It can sound random but it all flows together one way or another,” she said, who plays a large set of chimes, an instrument larger than her.
Tupa, who plays the wind chimes and the cymbals, said her part is very easy compared to the others. Her auxiliary part, she added, actually allows for her to hear more easily when the ensemble is flowing.
“I can hear them better than they can hear each other, so when it clicks, I just know,” she said.
Briones plays the vibraphone, which is like the marimba but smaller, and has a pedal that lets a note ring when pressed. Sulak plays the bells, and said it’s a smaller xylophone and gives off a more metallic sound.
Green and Gabrysch play the same instrument up front, and essentially lead the music piece.
The ensemble received the song in January and played their first competition in February. They’ve spent around three and a half weeks every school day practicing around 45 minutes during fifth period, all to play a piece lasting minutes.
“I think the piece takes about four and a half minutes,” Green said.
“I have to say, we’re pretty good,” Gabrysch said. “But with an ensemble, there’s always something that needs to be tweaked, so we always have something to get better with. We’re never going to be perfect.”
Keen said the students learned their parts individually in order to spend their class rehearsing to fit it all together, allowing them to focus on technique and making it all sound musical, rather than just learning the notes. Keen, who’s been the Pride of the Tribe’s director for five years, is the conductor of the ensemble’s performance.
“This is the first time for this specific ensemble to work together, but each student has performed a percussion ensemble for this contest before,” she said.
Even for freshman Briones. “I was invited to play in their ensemble last year when I was in eighth grade, and we made it to state.”
Their state competition is the day after graduation in late May, and will be held in Pflugerville.
Keen said she’s so proud and always in awe of what they accomplish, especially because they don’t have a designated percussion director.
“It’s an honor to conduct them, but they’re amazing musicians and would do fantastic for anyone in front of them,” she said. “They’re all very hardworking.”
