For the Brazos Valley Music Teachers Association, Saturday's 2 p.m. Ensemble Festival II at the Bryan Public Library is designed to pay larger dividends to its performers than the typical recital. Music, you see, is the all-important vehicle for the more valuable payoff of accomplishment and confidence.
Who among us could ever forget the terror of the first time we had to perform anything -- a poem, a play, a song -- in front of something more intimidating than a mirror. Our parents and other people's parents -- girlfriends, boyfriends, regular friends, brothers and sisters were all there as judge and jury. Success seemed so impossible but then, messing up was simply not an option.
Somehow it worked out for most of us and it likely will Saturday as well when 29 local music students perform an array of musical ensembles.
This is the second such opportunity for young budding musicians to bloom in a competition setting sponsored by the 28 members of the BVMTA.
"In 2008, the Brazos Valley Music Teachers Association decided to institute an ensemble festival to give students a chance to perform with their peers," association member Gayle Worthy said. "Many of our students are piano students and they spend a lot of time at the piano alone. Since they are developing their own skills, they don't have a lot of opportunities to play with other musicians. This is a unique way for them to do that -- work in concert with other musicians."
The success of last year's inaugural festival, the quality of music, the number of students and the community turnout begged for an encore of sorts. A week ago yesterday was the audition, judged by guest artist Chris Hoffman.
Those who made the cut include 14 piano duets, a piano and viola duet and a piano and violin duet. A trio will combine piano, violin and cello. A string and woodwind quartet will feature violin, viola, two cellos and an oboe. There's going to be a vocal presentation with a small choir and a piano.
Add to all that a special piano duet by Hoffman and Worthy, along with a few selections from the A&M Consolidated High School Vocal Ensemble directed by Travis Angel, and folks, that's entertainment!
"The judge felt that the level of preparedness was better than last year, and we were pretty impressed last year," Worthy said.
As with any first-timers to public performance, there was some understandable stage fright during auditions but Hoffman was able to offer some tips for conquering those jitters. "That was also a plus for the next step," Worthy said.
"We have all kinds of ensembles who passed to this final stage of the festival," member Elena Reese said. "We'll also have a teachers' ensemble and a great variety of music performed."
That, Reese said, means this won't be wall-to-wall classical Bach and Mozart and the like. "There will be arrangements of traditional Christmas themes and tunes, along with jazz, ragtime and tango. With so many colors of sound, it will not be boring at all."
Reese said they understand it's a busy time for everyone, "so it will be short and sweet and we hope the audience will be as big as it was last year."
That, Reese recalls, was an overflow crowd at the library in downtown Bryan. "We not only had the students but musicians and families. No one was there out of some obligation and everyone enjoyed it."
The Ensemble Festival II is free and open to the public, and will start promptly at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Bryan library is at 201 E. 26th St. For more information, call 696-2787 or go to www.bvmta.org.
'Baddest Angel Band'
The Navasota Theatre will swing into the holiday spirit next weekend with its Christmas Youth Program The Baddest Angel Band.
It's the story of teen angels Cherry, Spir and Angelina, who are about to be expelled from Angel School for playing throwing the teacher's halo like a Frisbee and claiming that thunder is caused by angel burps. The program is directed by Cecelia Maddox.
The show lasts only one hour -- just right to match a young child's attention span -- and will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Dec. 6. Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for children.
Season tickets for the 2010 Navasota Theatre Alliance season are on sale. All shows have three-weekend runs, starting Feb. 18 with Faith County II: The Saga Continues. In May, Life With Father will run followed by All Aboard for Broadway in July. The season ends with The Butler Did It in October.
Save the date:
* Monday: Arts Council of the Brazos Valley presents its Holiday Artisan Bazaar, Texas Gallery (696-2787, acbv.org)
* Through Jan. 31: Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History presents "From Earth to the Universe" (776-2195, brazosvalleymuseum.org)
* Tuesday: MSC OPAS Intimate Gatherings presents Cantus, 7:30 p.m., Rudder Theatre (mscopas.com, 845-1234)
* Thursday-Dec. 19: Stage Center presents Christmas Belles, a Christmas farce, 7:30 p.m. (823-4297, stagecenter.net)
* Thursday, Dec. 10, 17: American Guild of Organists presents Advent Recitals, 12:30 p.m., St. Thomas Episcopal Church in College Station (696-0452)
* Friday-Dec 20: The Theatre Company presents It's a Wonderful Life, 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday (779-1302, theatrecompany.com)
* Saturday: International Festival-Institute at Round Top presents Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet, 4 p.m. (979-249-3129, festivalhill.org.)
* Saturday: Bush Museum presents A Spanish Winemaker Weekend (862-2251, bushlibrary.tamu.edu)
* Dec. 6: Texas A&M University Choral Activities presents "The Holiday Spirit of Aggieland," with the Singing Cadets, Women's Chorus and Century Singers, 3 p.m., Rudder Auditorium (845-5975, choralactivities.tamu.edu)
* Dec. 8: MSC OPAS presents "An Evening with Garrison Keillor" (845-1234, mscopas.com).
* Dec. 10: Navasota Theatre Alliance presents its annual membership drive Christmas gala (navasotatheatre.com, 936-825-3195)
* Tom Turbiville is The Eagle's arts columnist. He's also sports director for WTAW-1620AM Radio. E-mail him at tom.turbiville@ theeagle.com.
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