Hawkfest Brings Together Talented Musicians from Across the Area
By Brianna Rundell
The annual Hawkfest, an event organized by Northeast Community College, features a high school honor band and choir, and this year, seven students from Pierce were selected.
Those who wanted to participate had to audition a month before the event date.
From the band, Lillian Blank, Carson Fevold, Carter Sindt, and Keaton Vavra were selected. Those chosen from the choir were Spencer Sindt, Addison Frye, and Brianna Rundell.
The day began with check-ins at the Cox Activities Center; afterward, band and choir students went their separate ways.
“I’ve been at Hawkfest for three years. Last year was probably the best, my favorite song this year was ‘Escape from the Deep’,” Blank said.
The band students stayed in the Cox building while the choir students made their way to the Lifelong Learning Center to begin rehearsals starting at 8:30 that morning.
Around 10:15, all Hawkfest participants gathered in the theater at the Cox Center for an “Onward and Upward” session. In this session, Northeast staff discussed taking personal college visits, experiencing Northeast days, and the opportunity to participate in band or choir regardless of the chosen major.
At 10:45, students retired to rehearsal until 12:30 when a lunch break was provided by Northeast. Afterward, band and choir participants switched buildings for the rest of the rehearsal time.
All attendees then returned to the Lifelong Learning Center around 3:30 to watch the NECC choir perform three songs.
At 4:00, the Hawkfest band had its final rehearsal, followed by the choir.
The Hawkfest band and choir performance started at 5:30.
Before the concert started, the band and choir directors of NECC drew the names of all the senior participants and selected two for the band and two for the choir. The names drawn received $1,000 scholarships to attend NECC.
“This is my first year participating in Hawkfest honor choir. My favorite part of the day was getting to be part of a different choir than I'm used to, being around so many people my age that are super passionate about singing, and being able to sing in that type of group. It was just a really great experience,” Frye commented.
The choir opened with four songs, “Down In My Soul,” “Chante Waste Hoksila (Traditional Lakota Lullaby),” “A Choir’s Guide to Surviving Music Theory,” and “Heartbeat Rhythm.”
The band's first song was “Appalachian Expedition.” Their second song of the night, titled "A+", was performed twice. The song was played perfectly the first time; however, when it was played the second time, the band was instructed to play one note wrong at any point in the song. The band's final two songs were “Escape From the Deep” and "Instant Concert.”
Pierce High band and choir will perform next at the Veteran’s Day Program on November 11.
