Band Wins State Championship for 3rd Title in 7 Years

Concordia's only two State Championships so far for the 2021-2022 school year came within 10 days of each other in April and both are from Fine Arts! Concordia won the Vocal Music State Championships on April 9th and then on April 19th, the Instrumental Music State Championship title was claimed.  

The last month has seemed like a whirlwind, but for the Crusaders who love making music, they would not change a thing about how crazy these weeks have flown by and how busy their schedules were for school and band. Over spring break, they traveled for six days to Southern California performing concerts for Lutheran schools, a combined concert with a residency at Concordia University – Irvine, and some fun at the beach and at Disneyland.

The following week, on March 25, they traveled to Concordia University – Texas in Austin to perform in the TAPPS 6A Solo/Small Ensemble State competition. Our students really knocked it out of the park with 17 of 19 soloists earning a “1” superior rating and 2 earning a “2” excellent rating. Of the 13 small ensembles, we earned 8 “1” superior ratings, 4 “2” excellent ratings, and 1 “3” average rating. All of those points earned, combined with strong performances from the fall’s field band and drumline state contests, put CLHS into a 1^st place tie with last year’s state champion, Midland Christian, going into our final day for medium and large ensembles. 

On April 19, the band traveled to Temple, TX for this final contest. The Jazz Band, Sader 7 Jazz Combo, and Symphonic Bands all performed. All three events earned a “1” superior rating from every judge. On Wednesday, our Handbells events performed and earned “1” superior ratings as well. In addition, the Symphonic Band earned a “1” superior rating in sight-reading where they had 10 minutes to study a band piece without ever having looked at it before and then performing it from start to finish. By earning a 1/1/1 in their concert pieces and a 1 in sight-reading, our Symphonic Band earned the coveted Sweepstakes award. This is the 6^th straight year our band has earned sweepstakes. 

All of these accomplishments combined to crown the CLHS Symphonic Band the 2022 Instrumental Music State Champion!  2^nd place went to Midland Christian, 3^rd to Nolan Catholic, and 4^th to St. Thomas. This is Concordia’s third state championship in school history with the other two coming in 2016 and 2017. They finished 2^nd in 2018 and 2019 and 3^rd place finish in 2021 (2020's competition was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

More than the results, Mr. Held is proud of how these students handled themselves and modeled Christ in how they cared for one another throughout all of our travels. After these last couple of years, it was great to get back on the road with our band and share our music and God’s gifts with so many others. God has blest these students with many musical gifts, and it is wonderful to see how they have grown as musicians and young men and women. It was special to tour again for the first time post-covid and take our music “on the road”. A special thank you also needs to go out to our directors, Mrs. Harris, Mr. Kirchenberg, and Mr. Held for all of their hard work and leadership.

The following students below earn the TAPPS designation of All-State Honors. These are students who perform class 1 solos (the hardest level of solo repertoire) and earn a “1” superior rating:

• Kyle C. (Jr.)
• Evan H. (Sr.)
• Giselle P. (Sr.)
• Annabel R. (Fr.)
• Matthew S. (So.)

• Luke A. (Sr.)
• Caitlyn C. (Jr.)
• Sarah C. on oboe and piano (Fr.)
• Jack G. (Fr.)
• Nate H. (Fr.)
• Kaylee I. (Fr.)
• Gracie J. (Sr.)
• Reagan S. (Jr.)
• Hailey S. (Jr.)
• Alberto V. (So.)
• Camden W. (Jr.)