Prisecaru selected for ILMEA District Festival
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In her first year trying out for ILMEA, Ali Prisecaru,a sophomore at Chrisman High School, was chosen to participate in the All-District Orchestra section of the ILMEA Festival. This festival takes the best musicians from schools across the district, joining them together to perform a concert piece.
“It feels amazing to have been chosen for ILMEA All-District band my first year auditioning. It really emphasizes the work that I have put in as a musician over all six years of playing the trombone,” Prisecaru told us. “Band has always been one of my favorite parts of the school year.”
Ali has been in band since the fifth grade and mainly plays the trombone, but can also play the euphonium well. Her approach to playing music is different than others as she mainly plays by ear.
“The trombone was my choice because of it’s incredible range for different pitches,” Ali said. “Having the ability to move the slide to the pitch I need worked well for me.”
Band Director Dayna Traver gave the musicians a month to practice musical pieces with a deadline of October 5th. Every morning, Ali and others would come into the classroom to rehearse. A few days before the online recordings of the pieces were due, Prisecaru recorded her pieces one at a time.
“We were given three sections to play from. One was a music sheet of all the scales and the other two were specifically chosen songs that we had to play an excerpt from.”
A week after the deadline, Ali was informed that she had been chosen for the festival.
With this new opportunity, Ali is looking forward to the possibility of making new friends.
“All kinds of musicians from across Illinois will be there, so it will also be the perfect chance to learn something new and possibly teach others.”
Learning the audition music was quite difficult for Prisecaru, but she knows that she learned a lot from that experience.
“At first, playing the pieces seemed tedious and hard, but after a couple of weeks of practice, I taught myself how to become better at playing my instrument and music,” Ali said.
“It was really a learning experience to show what hard work can do to a topic that you enjoy.”
Ali will be performing ‘Selections from Gayane- Aram Khachaturian, arr. Marcel Frank; Youth Overture- Emma Diemer; Finale from 5th Symphony- Ludwig Von Beethoven, arr. Leidig and Take Five- Desmond, arr. Cerulli.
The performance will be November 19th at Eastern Illinois University.
