On March 6, 2026, the IHS Wind Ensemble participated in the Ohio Music Education Association [OMEA] solo and ensemble event at Olmsted Falls and got a three out of five for their musical performance.
OMEA supports musical programs in schools while also advocating for high-quality assessments of these musical programs. In order to assess these programs, judges will grade the school’s musical performances and how the conductor performed out of five. The higher the number, the better they performed. The region that our school participates in is the North Eastern Region.
Our Wind Ensemble performed for the OMEA on March Sixth and received a three out of five for their musical performance and Mr. Michael Greene’s conducting ability.
The songs the IHS Wind Ensemble performed were Blue Sky Horizons by Randall Standridge, Among the Clouds by Brian Balmages, and Lexington March by Karl King. The Members of the Wind Ensemble thought they did well performing, but thought they could improve. Tuba player Quincy Carlisle thought, “ It was pretty good. You know, we played the best we could with the condition we were in, so, you know, we got three overall. It’s not terrible.” Furthermore, the Wind Ensemble got graded on many different aspects of their performance. They got graded based on their intonation, which is hearing the music ahead of time, note accuracy, sight reading the musical notes, and dynamics on how they performed coherently as a group.
At the end, when the judge’s scores are in, the Wind Ensemble gets one paper from each of the four judges that gives critiques on what could be improved with their musical abilities. One judge graded them two, another graded them a three, and the last two graded them a four. All of their scores averaged out to a three.
Though they did nice, there were still some improvements they could have made. Tuba player Tille Averre expressed, “It starts with focus and energy. If we took it upon ourselves to bring more energy to the rehearsals and listen better, we could make more progress.” Some positives thoughts from the judges were the Wind Ensemle’s baritones were great, their low brasses were good, and the tuba players did awesome.
