As spring begins at Olympia High School, competition is heating up. For some, it means the spring season for their sport, and for others it means the imminence of countless MPAs. For our music department, competition season is now in full swing.
Cultivating Choirs
“MPAs stands for Music Performance Assessments. It is a competition with several different parts. Students perform two prepared pieces for four judges and perform sight reading of a piece they have never seen before. They are judged on multiple elements such as tone quality, technical preparation, and musical effect. Based on the judges comments and critiques, they are assigned a rating of fair, good, excellent, or superior. The average score of the judges is taken into consideration and choirs who receive superior, move into the state level in April”- said Omaris Torres-Frey the choir director at Olympia who has been participating in MPAs for “eight years”.
This year the Olympia Chorus Department is “taking six choirs” to the MPAs in hopes of making it to the state level through obtaining a superior. When going to MPAs, Torres-Frey wants her students “to have fun and have polished performances this year.” MPAs for chorus this year are being hosted at Apopka High School, not too far from Olympia. “I feel like the piece I connect to most is Like a River in My Soul,” said Torres-Frey, which the choir Olympian Voices will be performing. To all students concluding the choir department at Olympia High School, good luck at MPA on March 10th!
Breathtaking Bands
Anna Andert is a sophomore at Olympia High School and plays the trombone. “[This is my] second time going to MPAs at Olympia, but I went to the MPAs twice before, during Middle School.” Andert says. “I am really looking forward to the MPAs. I think the Wind Ensemble will perform amazingly!” This year’s band MPAs is also taking place at Apopka High School. Andert is performing with Wind Ensemble, “My favorite piece we are playing is Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky.” Here, at The Oracle we’re wishing Anna, along with all the other students participating in the band program, the best of luck at their MPAs on March 6th. Along with all the other students participating in the band program.
Overachieving Orchestras
Brandon Bangle is the orchestra teacher at Olympia High School and is “taking four classes that are combined into three groups”. Even though band, chorus, and orchestra are all going to the MPAs, there are different formatting and requirements that each group must use during their competition. “We learn three pieces of music and are judged by the orchestra teachers from other parts of Florida,” Bangle said. Going to the MPAs allows for different ensembles to understand what they succeeded at and what needs to be improved. “A few pieces that I really like this year are Sequoia, which is about the sequoia trees in California. Another piece that we are doing I really like is Contrast in E minor. It has three different parts so it is an interesting piece of music,” Bangle exclaimed. This year’s orchestra MPA was Friday February 28th with three groups playing one after another. Here, at The Oracle, we are sure that Titan Orchestra exceeded all expectations and aced that MPA!
