Hey! Just wanted to know if any of y'all were doing "Solo and Ensemble" this year. I'm doing Entr'acte from Carmen as my solo, and my ensemble is Canon in A (flute and oboe). Solo and Ensemble is this Friday and Saturday for me. What about y'all?

I played a flute duet, woodwind trio, and oboe solo. I can't remember the name of the woodwind trio or flute duet, because it was a long time ago - but my oboe solo was called Three Romances.

How was Solo and Ensemble, if you already had it?

Got two 1's! And passed the Theory test! So, I'm really excited about that.

My solo ensemble was two weeks ago

I did a flute solo, piccolo solo, flute duet, flute quartet, and our band did a woodwind choir. All got 1's! Though I've gotten ones on everything since my sophomore year (I'm a senior now)

The only bad thing about the day was that we got Comments Only for our flute duet since we had to give her two separate parts since there is no published score which still apparently isn't acceptable and you have HAVE to have a score.. and unfortunately for comments all we got was "sounded good" and that was it.. But it made up for it as our quartet got best of center!

For those of us who don't know what "Solo and Ensemble" is, can you please tell us what state or country you are in? Is this a British thing?

I'm in Iowa in the US.

Solo/small ensemble (or called just contest though at least in Iowa its not really a contest) and people play solos or perform in small ensembles (under 24 people) and are rated by a judge from 5 (very poor performance) to a 1 (outstanding performance).

It varies from state to state like I know Texas has district contest then those who get division 1 ratings go to state or something like that. In Iowa anyone can do an event and getting a 1 doesn't really qualify you for anything besides your own satisfaction, lol. They do help get you into honor bands though..

We also have State Large Group which is basically the exact same thing, except for big groups not individuals. You play for a judge and are rated.

Yeah, South Carolina is kinda the same way. You just play a solo or an ensemble and the judge\judges will critique you on tone,intonation,technique...etc. If you receive a 1 you get a certificate and a medal, if you receive a 2 you just get a certificate, and for South Carolina 3 is the last you can get, and if you get a 3 you don't receive anything.

Thank you!

Here in California we dont have Solo Ensemble but in Michigan we used to. Here we do Certificate of Merit.

Wow it's cool you guys have this Solo and Ensemble thing in your region! We don't even have that in my state, just the regionals/all-state! And congrats, InstrumentCrazy!...Also, good luck theflutist94! The Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino by Taffanel is prob one of my favorite pieces from Flute Music by French composers...