In Concert: High notes for St. Helens High School Band

Music is in the air, and for some of St. Helens High School’s most talented musicians, the spring has been full of highlights.

The St. Helens High School Wind Ensemble is Cowapa League Champions again, and a band of St. Helens students took first place at a music festival in Los Angeles.

Band Director Noelle Freshner said that with the win at the league concert on April 10, her band secured an automatic berth to the State Championships on May 9. The band placed second in the state last year.

“Last year, we had a very large and strong senior class graduate,” Freshner said. “This year, we relied very heavily on our younger players, and they have absolutely stepped up to it. They’re an incredible band.”

Freshner said that despite the younger group, they have been able to replicate much of last year’s success. The group is made up of seniors, juniors, and sophomores, and they stepped into important roles for the band.

For Freshner, one of the important things for her was setting the band up for success through the selection of music they would play. Freshner selected three tunes to make up the band’s slate. The set includes Vanishing Point by Randall Standridge, Tinker to Evers to Chance by Carolyn Bremer, and Fate of the Gods by Steven Reineke.

Sophomore Riya Roylance is in her second year in the Wind Ensemble, and she plays the baritone saxophone. Roylance said that winning the league this year was “great.” Her favorite piece from their set is Fate of the Gods because she loves how “mysterious” the song is and that “it tells such a great story through the music.”

Senior Judah Olson and his sister, sophomore Charity Olson, play trumpet and clarinet for the Wind Ensemble, respectively, and they also said Fate of the Gods is their favorite song they play as well.

“I knew that the most important thing I could do for the Wind Ensemble was pick good music. Pick music that I knew they could achieve and sound great on,” Freshner said. “Between now and state, the job is to just clean up anything that needs to be cleaned up; continue to pull out musical moments. Try to get our softs softer, and our big full moments fuller. We want to become more consistent with what we do rep to rep.”

Going into state, the students aren’t focused on winning the whole thing, but are more focused on the quality of the music they play. Roylance said her goal is to have “a great performance and to have fun while doing it.”

“No matter what place we get, I hope we feel proud of all that we’ve accomplished this year,” Roylance said.

Charity Olson echoed those sentiments, saying that if St. Helens doesn’t win a title but the band feels great about the music they put out she’ll be happy.

“Of course, winning a trophy would be pretty great as well, but that isn’t the main goal, making fantastic music is,” Charity Olson said.

All the students said the bond within the group has been “special” and has been a great environment for growth as musicians. The band has put the collective above individual goals, and it has helped them achieve more as a group.

“I would definitely say that the vibe of the band changes from year to year but no matter what, there is always a familial quality to rehearsals and trips and festivals together,” Charity Olson said. “All of us work hard and love what we do, so it makes being in band a fun and worthwhile experience.”

Trip to LA

While winning the Cowapa League was a great benchmark for the Wind Ensemble, there was little time to bask in the achievement for some of the band members. The very next morning after the league contest, members of St. Helens’ Wind Ensemble and Concert Band jetted off to LA to take part in a Music in the Parks festival associated with Knott’s Berry Farm.

“They have three other completely different songs that we were working on. We came back from league, we went straight into rehearsal for that, passed out their luggage tags, and then met at 2:30 in the morning on the 11th to fly out to LA,” Freshner said.

Freshner said there were three other high school concert groups at the festival and that on the day of the performance, the Lions “performed very, very well.

“We received a ‘Superior’ rating. We actually got a 97.5 out of 100 as our score at this festival. We ended up being first place in our division, and the highest scoring concert band of the day,” Freshner said. “So we walked away with two trophies for that.”

The group flew into LA on Apr. 11, and flew out on Apr. 14. In addition to performing, the group got to enjoy some of the sights in Los Angeles. After flying in, the group got to do a tour of Warner Brothers studio, had free time in Hollywood, and explored the Fairfax Farmers Market. On Friday, Apr. 12, the group spent the day at Universal Studios.

Freshner said that getting to spend time with the group throughout the weekend was a “blast.” Charity and Judah Olson were part of the group that traveled to LA, and they said the highlight of the trip was spending time together at Universal Studios.

“The LA trip was amazing overall, but one of my favorite memories was going to Nintendo world in universal studios and doing all the mini games and hanging out with my brother,” Charity Olson said.

Roylance also enjoyed “goofing off” at Universal Studios, even getting to eat lunch at the iconic Three Broomsticks from Harry Potter, but noted that “getting first place at the Music in the Parks Festival we competed at while in LA was absolutely amazing.”