By Nathan Yan
Monday, May 15, 2006 7:49 AM

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Westmoor Music Awards and Solo Ensemble Showcase
by Angela Tolosa and Nathan Yan

On Friday, May 12th, Ms. Stephanie Cruz and her Westmoor Band held the annual Westmoor Music Awards, or "WMA's" if you will, along with a showcase of solo and ensemble performances. The event was held in the Schultz Theater, and students and Ms. Cruz performed and presented awards throughout the night.

At the Westmoor Music Awards and Solo Ensemble Showcase, several awards were given by Ms. Cruz to students who have exceeded expectaions and continued to showcase musical abilities. Below are the list of award categories and the students who recieved them.

Best Musicians:
Senior- Josiah Leong
Junior- Joshua Lisan
Sophomore- George Stickles
Freshman- Hansel Fernandes

Persuit of Excellence Award (given to students who have sacrificed for the band, taken on new instruments, and stepped in when needed) :
Senior- Kristin Yumang
Junior- Will Rankin/ Daniel Taw
Freshman- Ralp Negal/ Albert Shu

Band Aid Awards:
Jacqueline Ho
Jasmine Apelo
Evelyn Alvarez
Brando Alvarez
Kristin Yumang
Ralp Negal
Zara Lozano
Donna Dris
Gaby Benuto
George Stickles
Melissa Gonzales

Young Conductor Award:
George Stickles

Below are some superlative awards that were recognized at the concert. These were nominated and voted on by the concert and symphonic bands.

Most spirited:
Symphonic band- Emilbert De Leon/ Veronica FLores
Concert band- Jacqueline Ho

Best Musician:
Symphonic band- Gaby Benuto/ George Stickles
Concert Band- Anita Poon

Most likely to major in music:
Symphonic band- Gaby Benuto/ George Stickles

"Cruz's Pet":
Symphonic band- George Stickles/ Margo Chui
Concert band- Evelyn Alvarez

We managed to record a photostream, and for the first time ever a videostream, on portions of the event. All of the images were ISO200 or ISO400, so the noise levels are fairly high, but otherwise they turned out well for a 111mm focal length, no IS, and no flash. Be sure to check out the last image, which is a stitched panorama of the entire symphonic band during the performance of A Symphonic Prelude.

There are also some video files of three performances I was able to record: Concerto for Tombone and Band trombone solo performed by George Stickles with piano accompaniment by Ronel Mallari; The Entertainer performed by Josiah Leong, Robben Castillo, Veronica Flores, George Stickles, Ben Cho, and William Rankin; and The Matador performed by the Symphonic Band. The video quality, especially for The Entertainer video, is pretty atrocious, but the audio comes out decently for all three performances. I will attempt to rip the audio tracks from the video, and I'll have audio files uploaded by tomorrow (Tuesday, May 16th).

This article will very likely be updated/appended, so check back for updates (I'll post a notice on the comments list). For any other viewers who might've recorded media during the performance, I'd love to get more pictures and audio tracks or videos from some of the other performances, and most especially a full-res photograph of the brass choir during the performance of The Entertainer (Josiah Leong, Robben Castillo, Veronica Flores, George Stickles, Ben Cho, William Rankin). Send an email to westmoorgoldenram@yahoo.comor if you have an IM client, message tejastheory over AIM, Yahoo, MSN, GoogleTalk (adding an @yahoo.com or @gmail.com where applicable)

Download all pictures (band_may2006.zip, 32.04 MB)

Photographs by Nathan Yan (12 images)

Josiah Leong, Robben Castillo in warmup band_may06_01.jpg 3072x2304 1.564 MB	Allegro Pleyel: Joshua Lisan, Marisel Oca band_may06_02.jpg 3072x2304 3.719 MB	Sonata No. 3: Brando Alvarez band_may06_03.jpg 3072x2304 3.247 MB	band_may06_04.jpg 3072x2304 3.535 MB	band_may06_05.jpg 3072x2304 2.035 MB
Duet XI: Sean Wade, Cindy Duong band_may06_06.jpg 3072x2304 1.725 MB	March of the Dwarves: Kristin Yumang, Pwint Zin, Alva Leung, Jeanelle Diaz band_may06_07.jpg 3072x2304 1.182 MB	Concerto for Tombone and Band: George Stickles, Ronel Mallari band_may06_08.jpg 3072x2304 1.819 MB	Sonata in D Major for Two Flutes 'Gratioso': Reynaldo Gonzales, Gaby Benuto band_may06_09.jpg 3072x2304 2.372 MB	Waltz for the Moon: Melissa Gonzales, Stephanie Llamas, Allister Phan, Sharif Zakout, Chelsea Mullen, Ian Hart band_may06_10.jpg 3072x2304 2.772 MB
Westmoor Band Graduating Seniors band_may06_11.jpg 3072x2304 2.454 MB
A Symphonic Prelude: Westmoor Symphonic Band band_may06_12.jpg 7749x2119 5.704 MB

Videos
These files will open up and stream automatically through Windows Media Player when clicked. To save the files to your computer first (recommended), right click and "Save Link As".

Concerto for Tombone and Band by N.R. Korsokov performed by George Stickles with Ronel Mallari (.wmv, 320x240, 6.25 MB)

The Entertainer by Scott Joplin performed by Josiah Leong, Robben Castillo, Veronica Flores, George Stickles, Ben Cho, William Rankin (.wmv, 640x240, 10.680 MB)

The Matador by Alfred Reed performed by the Westmoor Symphonic Band (.wmv, 320x240, 6.25 MB)

Audio
In addition, the audio files below are ripped directly from the video recordings above. The .wav files are the best quality, although the .mp3 will probably be more compatible with portable media players, and won't sound that much worse based on the capture source. Directly clicking the links will likely open and attempt to stream the audio, which outside of school computers on the school network, probably won't work. Right-click and save the files to your computer first, and then play them.

.wav
Concerto for Tombone and Band by N.R. Korsokov
performed by George Stickles with Ronel Mallari
(.wav, 12.92 MB)
The Entertainer by Scott Joplin
performed by Josiah Leong, Robben Castillo, Veronica Flores, George Stickles, Ben Cho, William Rankin
(.wav, 12.06 MB)
The Matador by Alfred Reed
performed by the Westmoor Symphonic Band
(.wav, 16.37 MB)

.mp3
Concerto for Tombone and Band by N.R. Korsokov
performed by George Stickles with Ronel Mallari
(.mp3, 6.25 MB)
The Entertainer by Scott Joplin
performed by Josiah Leong, Robben Castillo, Veronica Flores, George Stickles, Ben Cho, William Rankin
(.mp3, 5.47 MB)
The Matador by Alfred Reed
performed by the Westmoor Symphonic Band
(.mp3, 7.42 MB)

The Westmoor News Blog is a weblog which updates on current events and news going on at Westmoor. It is written entirely by students, and thus any and all views, ideas, and witticisms expressed here do not necessarily correlate to those of Westmoor High School or JUHSD. You can submit feedback by emailing us at westmoorgoldenram@yahoo.com

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