Five Medical Lake students qualify for All-NW bands

Medical Lake High School senior Nick Isherwood has played in the Washington Music Educators Association All-State and All-Northwest performing groups as a percussionist.

When he travels to this year's music festival, Feb. 16-19, he will play bass in the All-Northwest jazz band- marking the first time a student from Medical Lake has performed in that group.

Isherwood is one of the many students traveling to Bellevue that weekend to perform in various All-Northwest bands

"I'm really honored, All-Northwest is a big deal," Isherwood said. "I'm the only student in the All-Northwest jazz band playing the bass."

Isherwood added that he has focused a lot of his time playing bass and is taking lessons from two different teachers.

"It's good to see the work paying off," he said.

To perform in the festival, musicians must submit applications in the fall, download the audition materials from the WMEA website, which include specific songs they'll perform in the festival. Musicians then submit a video of themselves performing the music to the WMEA.

To make it into the All-Northwest groups, students not only have to compete against other Washington musicians, but also students from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Wyoming.

Gabe Mangione also became the first Medical Lake student to qualify for the All-Northwest wind ensemble. Brandon Scheer (percussion), Lauren Saue-Fletcher (clarinet) and Terrell Strain (tuba) qualified for the All-Northwest wind symphony, which is different from the wind ensemble.

Isherwood noted that Saue-Fletcher and Strain had not auditioned for the festival in the past.

"It's cool to see that every year we're doing as good as some of the bigger schools, it's a testament to Mr. (Craig) Johnson and the work of the students," Isherwood said.

Sofia Novochekhova, on the flute, and Justyce Cogswell, on clarinet, will perform in All-State concert band. Both students have played in the All-State wind ensemble. Novochekhova noted that qualifying for the concert band "is harder" as musicians have to practice the same music - which she described as "harder tunes" - "from the lowest octave to the highest."

"You're spending the hours, recording the same piece 10 times," Novochekhova added. "You can't make a mistake. But it's a great feeling to get to perform in the concert band."

Johnson, who teaches band at both the middle school and high school, commended the hard work his students - the entire band - have put in this year.

"It's very rewarding, seeing them succeed in these festivals and competitions, it motivates me and keeps pumping them up to strive for more success," Johnson said.

The students are not only gearing up for the music festival, but also the upcoming WMEA Solo/Ensemble competition on Jan. 28 at West Valley. Some seniors, like Isherwood are also focusing on college auditions.

"But primarily we're focusing on All-Northwest (the music festival)," Isherwood said.

MORE INFO

Medical Lake High School's Luke Evenson, Shay McIntyre, Chris Keister, Craig Wells and Becca Ayling were accepted into the All-Northwest/All-State choirs and will perform at the festival, Feb. 16-19.

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].