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CULTURE
Appleton, Wisconsin February 2017 Volume XXII
Issue IV Page 9
During the third quarter at
Appleton North high school,
students are often subject to
the stress of increasingly
large piles of homework,
impending AP tests, college
admissions letters, lengthy
sports practices, musical re-
hearsals and a mid-year lack
of motivation that serves as
the proverbial cherry on
top. For North musicians,
much of this stress heavily
revolves around a competi-
tive tradition called Solo
and Ensemble.
The Solo and Ensemble, or
S&E, festival is a showcase
of student musicians’ tal-
ents, and it focuses around
five primary objectives:
improving students’ music
performance,
increasing
students’ understanding of
music literature and musical
concepts, motivating stu-
dents to continue their study
of music, establishing stan-
dards of excellence in music
performance and providing
opportunities for students
to understand the relation-
ship of music experiences
to other life experiences.
For Appleton North stu-
dents, the process to achieve
these objectives typically
involves choosing a desig-
nated S&E piece from the
official WSMA lineup in
January; these compositions
range in difficulty level,
from Category C (beginner
level), to B (intermediate),
to A (advanced).
After weeks of prepara-
tion and practice, the district
festival serves as an initial
test, wherein participants
from a given area perform
their pieces in front of adju-
dicators and are awarded on
a one-to-five scale, with five
being the lowest score and
with a one being the high-
est. A one-star, however, is
the most desired score, as
it results in an automatic
bid to compete in the state
Solo and Ensemble festival.
This year, Appleton North
will be hosting its own dis-
trict festival, with piano/vo-
cal performances occurring
on Feb. 25 and jazz/large
ensemble entries open for
March 3.
Charles Wu, a senior at
Appleton North, is current-
ly in the rehearsal stages
for Solo and Ensemble. A
state-renowned pianist who
has honed his piano-playing
skills for both the Oshkosh
Symphony Orchestra and
for his second place all-state
win for the Music Teachers
National Association com-
petition, Wu prepares for
only his second turn at Solo
and Ensemble. After receiv-
ing a one star last year for
a trio composition with fel-
low seniors David Yan and
Tristan DeBruin. This year,
he plans on competing for
both a piano solo category
and a cello-piano duet cat-
egory with Tristan DeBruin.
“I’ll be playing ‘La Cam-
panella’ for my solo piece,
and I’m pretty excited,”
Wu said. When asked if he
feels the impending stress
of S&E, he admitted, “I’m
not as nervous because it’s
a competition that’s through
the school. I’m really more
of a state piano guy.” He
went on to add, “It is really
fun though to hang out and
play music with my bud-
dies.”
For sophomore band stu-
dent and vocalist Jack Cain,
on the other hand, Solo and
Ensemble presents itself as
more of a daunting task.
“It’s definitely stressful,”
he stated. “It takes a lot of
hard work and preparation,
and practice isn’t something
you can just leave for the
last minute.” Though he
did add, “It’s still definitely
worth it. I mean, it’s pretty
fun to get together with
people and make music to-
gether.”
Although the stresses of
performing are eminent, this
sense of fun and camarade-
rie is ultimately an objective
for festival organizers. After
all, according to its website,
WSMA prides itself on cre-
ating “memories and skills
for life.” Thus, students are
heavily encouraged to par-
ticipate in the ongoing tra-
dition of S&E and to at least
continue to share their love
of music throughout the
community.
For more information
about the Solo and Ensem-
ble tradition, visit www.ws-
mamusic.org/festivals.
By Maddy Schilling
Solo and Ensemble festival reaches Appleton North
Students prepare
compositions for
upcoming music
festival
Senior Charles Wu practices “La Campanella,” or “Little Bell,” for
the upcoming S&E festival.
Photo by Maddy Schilling
The ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame’ makes high school debut at North
Come March of 2017,
Lightning theatre, led by
theatre teacher and direc-
tor Ron Parker, will be one
of the first to produce “The
Hunchback of Notre Dame,”
the classic tale originally
penned by Victor Hugo and
adapted by Disney.
Though Appleton North is
no stranger to popular Dis-
ney productions, such as
last year’s “The Little Mer-
maid,” the new year brings
a new flavor to the stage,
as “Hunchback” diverges
greatly from the cartoon
fairy tale of 1996.
Indeed, it will tell the tale
of the kind-hearted hunch-
back named Quasimodo, the
beautiful gypsy Esmeralda,
the dashing Captain Phoe-
bus and the wicked Claude
Frollo, but the North show
will also focus on some of
the darker elements from
Hugo’s novel. After all, the
production on which much
of North theatre’s show will
be based bares not only the-
matic similarities to Victor
Hugo’s other famous work
“Les Miserables,” but also
parallel elements of staging
style.
Furthermore, not only
will North be the first high
school to put on the musical,
but this year’s “Hunchback”
will be the first non-profes-
sional theatre program to
perform the musical in the
Midwest. A relatively new
production, “The Hunch-
back of Notre Dame” is the
product of the first collabo-
ration between renowned
composer Alan Menken
and famed lyricist Stephen
Schwartz, the rights of
which Parker seized as soon
as he could to allow Apple-
ton North theatre to legally
put on the production.
Madeline Cuff,
stage
manager for the upcoming
musical as well as previous
shows at North, said, “The
show is going to have over
one hundred students in-
volved through tech, acting
and pit, so it’ll require a ton
of hard work and dedication
from all of us to really make
this show a great one.”
While North has typically
boasted large scale produc-
tions since Mr. Parker’s
tenure began,
bringing
“The Hunchback of Notre
Dame” will be a particu-
larly remarkable feat. With
so many students involved,
cast, crew and pit members
must accumulate thousands
of hours over the course of
the next two months in or-
der to live up to the expec-
tations that are held up in
the Appleton North theatre
program.
Yet with daily rehearsals
and countless tech hours al-
ready building up to place
this historical show on the
docket, theatre students
have shown that they are up
to the task.
Performance dates are
March 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and
18 at 7 p.m. and March 11,
12, 18 and 19 at 12:30 p.m.
For all who are interested,
tickets are now being sold
to the public online.
With shows beginning March 9, a total of ten performances will
be open to the public. For tickets and more information, visit
www.appletonnorththeatre.org.
Photo by Maddy Schilling
Premiere spring
musical brings a
dark tale to life
By Raven Wilson