At 7:30 in the morning, the blaring of horns and rumbling of drums hints to the fact that the Big 9 Music Festival has begun. The brass instruments are all tuned, shining brightly; the flutes are making melodies with the trumpets and clarinets, while the vocalists warm up their voices, ready to hit the high notes. Almost everyone on this planet has had positive experiences with music; they even make it part of their daily lives. Imagining a world without music is hard to fathom because it makes such a giant impact on many people’s lives every second, especially a musician’s. Imagining a world without music is next to impossible when the Big 9 Music Festival comes to Red Wing, Minnesota.

In fact the Festival kicked off on April 28th with performances from ensembles of the hosts, Red Wing High School. After they finished competing, they served as volunteers and guides showing people directions to their homerooms, performance areas, and other locations. Then, when every other school’s band, choir, and orchestra ensembles were finished performing, everyone packed up their belongings and got on the busses at around 3:00 to leave to their home school and end a wonderful day of mellifluous melodies.

The festival consisted of all high school honors choirs, orchestras, and concert bands of the Big 9 Conference. The schools included were Northfield, Owatonna, Mayo, Century, John Marshal, Albert Lea, Red Wing, Winona, and Faribault.  All of the ensembles performed anywhere between two to six songs, depending on the length of their songs performed within their half hour time limit. Orchestra and band performed in the school, normally in the auditorium, but choir actually changed it up a little bit. To compensate for their small sound, group, and articulate notes, they performed in a church to throw their voices farther and make the music more worth listening to.

The environment was extremely busy with students sprinting to watch their favorite ensemble and snag a close seat, and others heading over to get food before the line became too long for comfort. All students and members were open to observe any ensemble throughout the day, but many played at the same time as others, so time management and smart decisions about viewing choices was important in this situation! Many students would tend to watch their own school’s performances, despite the ensemble they participated in.

Mayo’s band performed to the highest of their abilities with their best performance yet according to the students with a lot of energy and exciting music filling the auditorium and ears of the audience. The band’s first selection, “Lord Tullamore,” was a medieval-based song with a feeling of hope and likely that of attending a Renaissance festival. Their second selection, “Danzon No. 2,” was a long and intricate song with many different feels, tempos, and musical effects that all come together to make a “Latin salsa theme.” From a sweet little oboe solo to start off the piece, to ending with bongos, blaring horns, and all sorts of Latin-Themed instruments, the “Danzon No. 2” seemed to sum up the skill level and intensity of the band.

With all of the friendly commotion and outstanding music being played throughout Red Wing, the crowds and audiences were gigantic. Whether it was at the church down the street to hear the sonorous sound of choirs, in the auditorium for a loud, powerful band concert, or at the gym spotting some strings being subtly strummed, the choices of performances to see were almost endless.