Students may have noticed high schoolers taking over PLU’s Lagerquist Hall between February 9 and March 1, 2024, for the annual music invitationals. These events allowed bands and choirs from across the state to learn from PLU’s music department professors by performing three pieces over a 20-minute timeframe each.
There were three adjudicators at both invitationals whose job was to take notes on performances and provide feedback to each group. The music groups would then incorporate these suggestions into their pieces.
Choir and Band directors Brian Galante and Ron Gerhardstein, both adjudicators and organizers for the invitationals, provided valuable insights into the goals behind the invitationals and the process of organizing each event.
Galante shed some light on the process of providing feedback to each choir as an adjudicator: “Well, we take on two roles in this. One, we’re either writing comments or we’re doing the onstage clinic. Our time is short on the stage… so I’m trying to prioritize something that can give the groups immediate success…” He emphasized the importance of giving clear yet concise feedback so that the choirs don’t get overwhelmed or discouraged during the process.
Galante also highlighted the importance of community support that the invitational brings. “The other part is really just about building community, and I think the students learn as much from listening to the other groups that perform [as they do from the comments]… It’s a celebration of what’s going on in the choral area and the high schools, finding ways to both celebrate that and to look at different ways that we can all approach this thing we call music.”
Gerhardstein explained some of the basic expectations from the adjudicators when attending the invitational. “So, I have an image in my head of what these pieces sound like. I’m looking to see… how well they’ve done to prepare for it to sound like an authentic performance of that piece of music.”
Gerhardstein also discussed the importance of outreach through these events: “We get students who come into PLU because of our [music] events. I have a student who plays in my Tuesday and Thursday afternoon group, who just joined the band this semester. She said she came to PLU for the invitational because she heard the band when she was on campus.”
These invitationals are vital for continuing the PLU music program and gathering recruits, as well as increasing interest in the pursuit of music in college. The program continues to be one of the most important events for potential new music students, as well as a valuable opportunity for students looking to get advice from collegiate-level professionals and on-stage practice.
