The RCHS Honors Wind Chamber Ensemble performs at the IHSA Organizational Music Contest on Saturday, April 18th. Performance attire is concert black-and-white (tuxes or dresses) that were issued out to the students at the beginning of the second term. Parents may sign out their sons & daughters following the performance that morning in the assigned homeroom.

Food and drinks are available in the cafeteria. Students may purchase food and drinks after performances.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

IHSA Organizational Contest Itinerary
6:30 AM.........................Call-time at RCHS
6:31-6:49 AM................Change into black-and-white concert attire
6:40 AM...............................Buses arrive at the RCHS circle drive
6:50-8:19 AM................Travel to Mt. Vernon High School
8:20-8:49 AM.................Check into home room and restroom break
8:50-8:59 AM.................Move to the warm-up area
9:00-9:24 PM............Honors Wind Chamber Ensemble warm-up
9:25-9:29 PM............Move to the performance venue
9:30-9:55 PM....................Honors Wind Chamber Ensemble performance
10:00-12:00 PM................Pack bus, travel to RCHS, unpack, and dismiss! (est. time)

CONTEST ADDRESS: Mt. Vernon High School is located at 11101 N. Wells Bypass in Mt. Vernon, IL 62864

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions at [email protected], or 618-393-2191 ext. 3157.

Click HERE for the full schedule. 

Click HERE for more details. 

The RCHS Honors Wind Chamber Ensemble performs at the IHSA Organizational Music Contest on Saturday, April 12th. Performance attire is concert black-and-white (tuxes or dresses) that were issued out to the students at the beginning of the second term. Parents may sign out their sons & daughters following the performance that morning in the assigned homeroom.

Food and drinks are available in the cafeteria. Students may purchase food and drinks after performances.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

IHSA Organizational Contest Itinerary
7:45 AM.........................Call-time at RCHS
7:48-8:14 AM................Change into black-and-white concert attire
8:10 AM...............................Buses arrive at the RCHS circle drive
8:15-9:59 AM................Travel to Mt. Vernon High School
10:00-10:19 AM.................Check into home room and restroom break
10:20-10:24 AM.................Move to the warm-up area
10:25-10:54 PM............Honors Wind Chamber Ensemble warm-up
10:55-10:59 PM............Move to the performance venue
11:00-11:25 PM....................Honors Wind Chamber Ensemble performance
11:45-1:15 PM................Pack bus, travel to RCHS, unpack, and dismiss! (est. time)

CONTEST ADDRESS: Mt. Vernon High School is located at 11101 N. Wells Bypass in Mt. Vernon, IL 62864

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions at [email protected], or 618-393-2191 ext. 3157.

ARRIVAL
Visiting schools, please plan to arrive no earlier than 2:15 pm on Friday and 8:00 am Saturday. The contest officially begins at 3:00pm Friday and 8:00 am Saturday. Keep in mind, this date is the start of MVTHS spring break, so you might encounter Friday traffic if you are a 3-4pm performer. All buses and vehicles should park in the back parking lot. Everyone (including bus drop off) should enter through the cafeteria entrance (Doors 50 and 51) by the ram statue. The front Fine Arts lot and entrance is for judges and workers only. There will be several signs posted outside to help with traffic. Please follow them! Schedules will be posted inside the main contest entrance (Door 3 and 4)
along with an information table with maps and workers to help with any questions.

FOOD SERVICE
The MVTHS Music Boosters will be operating food service/concessions in the
cafeteria. There will be a small variety of food, drinks, and snacks available including bottled water, sodas, various candy bars, cookies, and sour punch straw type candy. There will be breakfast foods as well for the morning arrivals. Students should eat and drink the items they purchase in the cafeteria. Food and Soda/Juice are not allowed into the performance theater, hallways, or classrooms.

PERCUSSION EQUIPMENT
The following list of percussion instruments will be available for use. If you need any other large percussion instruments, please let us know and we will do our best to make them available to you:

● Pearl concert snare drum (we also have two drum set snares)
● Pearl concert bass drum
● Tama drum set with 5 toms (This has our only hi-hat, so if you need hi-hat in addition to drum set, let us know)
● Concert toms of various sizes (let us know if you need specific sizes for your
performance)
● Ludwig timpani 32”, 29”, 26”, 23” (heads replaced this year and all have tuning gauges -
I will make sure the heads have been cleared before Friday)
● Glockenspiel
● Crash, ride, suspended, and china cymbals
● Assorted auxiliary instruments (if you have specific needs, please let us know and we
will let you know if it is available; if it is not, we will do our best to have it for you if you
cannot bring it yourself) - we only have one trap table, please plan to bring your own
if you need another one, or bring a towel to put on a stand as a substitute
○ Including, but not limited to: triangle, wind chimes, tambourine, cowbells, cabasa,
ratchet, castanets, bongos, slapstick, vibraslap, flexatone, maracas
○ If you need congas, please let us know, as we do not have them on campus, but
we can get them for your use

● Adams 1.5 octave chimes (brand new - 2 mallets available)
● Musser 1.6 octave chimes (not great, but if you really need that high F# or G it’s here)
● Tam-tam (on the smaller side, but decent)
● Premier 3.5 octave vibraphone (we are working on getting a band for the motor)
● Jenco 3 octave vibraphone (pretty rough shape - pedal doesn’t work well and no motor
available; use only if a second vibraphone is absolutely necessary)

● Adams 4.3 octave marimba (adjustable height - this will be the default if only one is
needed)
● Musser 4.3 octave marimba (height not adjustable, but instrument is good)
● Adams 3.5 octave xylophone (adjustable height - this will be the default if only one is
needed)
● Musser 3.5 octave xylophone (height not adjustable)

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2024 SOLO & ENSEMBLE RESULTS

The IHSA Solo & Ensemble Contest is nearly upon us! The IHSA Solo & Ensemble Contest is scheduled for Saturday, March 8th, 2025 at Lawrenceville High School.

The day's itinerary is as follows:

8:15 AM - Meet in the RCHS Rehearsal Hall
8:30 AM - Depart for Lawrenceville, IL
9:10 AM - Estimated arrival at Lawrenceville High School
2:00 PM - Estimated departure from Lawrenceville for Olney
2:30 PM - Estimated return to RCHS

Students may sign-out with a guardian following performances. Please sign-out with Mr. Jones (band) or Mr. Weitkamp (choir) before leaving.

The address for Lawrence High School is 2200 James St, Lawrence, IL 62439.

Packing List: Performance attire (you do not have to wear the concert black-and-white attire, but dress attire is required), instrument, extra reeds, musical accessories, sheet music, lunch money.

We will not leave Lawrenceville High School until the event is over. Students are encouraged to bring money, as the Lawrenceville Band Boosters is selling food and drinks.

Performance Fees:
Accompanied solos = $20
Unaccompanied solos = $10
Duet = $9 (per student)
Trio = $8 (per student)
Quartet = $7 (per student)
Quintet = $6 (per student)

Each participating student is required to pay the performance fee. Students & parents may elect to use funds that have built up in the student's band activity account. The due date for fees is March 1st. Band students, please visit https://gocuttime.com/ for and log in for balance and invoices.

9:20 AM - Addison Ridgely (113 Bb Soprano Saxophone) - Performance Room: 306 - Accompanied by Joyce Fritschle - 1 student(s)

9:40 AM - Schneider, et al (620 Random Instrumentation) - Performance Room: 406 - Unaccompanied - 2 student(s)

10:20 AM - Zuber, et al (652 Bass Ensemble) - Performance Room: 404 - Unaccompanied - 4 student(s)

10:30 AM - Tracy, et al (601 Flute Ensemble) - Performance Room: 304 - Unaccompanied - 2 student(s)

10:30 AM - Schneider, et al (611 Tuba/Baritone/Euphonium Ensemble) - Performance Room: 402 - Unaccompanied - 2 student(s)

11:10 AM - Longbons, et al (608 Trumpet Ensemble) - Performance Room: 402 - Unaccompanied - 2 student(s)

11:20 AM - Ryden, et al (615 Mixed Percussion Ensemble) - Performance Room: 117 - Unaccompanied - 3 student(s)

1:10 PM - Callista Ridgely (114 Eb Alto Saxophone) - Performance Room: 306 - Unaccompanied - 1 student(s)

1:20 PM - Mehl, et al (612 Mixed Brass Ensemble) - Performance Room: 406 - Unaccompanied - 2 student(s)

1:20 PM - Heath, et al (602 Clarinet Ensemble) - Performance Room: 306 - Unaccompanied - 2 student(s)

The RCHS Honors Wind Ensemble performs at the IHSA Organizational Contest on Saturday, April 13th. Performance attire is concert black-and-white (tuxes or dresses) that were issued out to the students at the beginning of the term. Parents may sign out their sons & daughters following the last RCHS performance that morning in the assigned homeroom.

Food and drinks are available in the cafeteria. Students may purchase food and drinks after performances.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

IHSA Organizational Contest Itinerary
7:00 AM.........................Call-time at RCHS
7:05-7:30 AM................Change into black-and-white concert attire
7:25 AM...............................Buses arrive at the RCHS circle drive
7:30-8:30 AM................Travel to Salem HS and settle into assigned homeroom
9:30-9:55 PM............Honors Wind Ensemble warm-up
10:00-10:25 PM....................Honors Wind Ensemble performance
10:40-12:30 PM................Pack bus, travel to RCHS, unpack, & dismiss! (est. time)

CONTEST ADDRESS: Salem High School is located at 1200 N. Broadway St. in Salem, IL

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions at [email protected], or 618-393-2191 ext. 3157.

The RCHS Music Department participated in the 2024 IHSA Solo & Ensemble Contest at Lawrenceville High School on Saturday, March 2nd, 2024. This festival is an opportunity for student-musicians from several member schools to perform for adjudication. Richland County High School had a strong showing with the following results:

BAND STUDENTS:
Division I (Superior Rating) = 10
Division II (Excellent Rating) = 1

CHOIR STUDENTS:
Division I (Superior Rating) = 3

The students that were rated Superior included Addison Ridgely, Callista Ridgely, Carly Houchin, Hadley Denton, James Benton (twice), Liam Ryden, Conner Akers, Jereme Higginbotham, Aidan Gomez, Ethan Zuber, Lila Balding, Jordi Mendoza, Emma Wells, Hadley Heath, Isaac Zwilling, Ethan Mehl, Wyatt Baker, Molly Fehrenbacher (twice), Cally Smith (twice), Jackson Williams,  Riley Harrolle, River Logan, and Sean Joyce. 

The students that were rated Excellent were Addison Ridgely (in addition to her Superior Rating for her duet)

Emma Wells was selected as Best in Class (deemed the best performers judged by their respective adjudicators of the day’s performances). A BIG congratulations to Ms. Wells!

CLICK HERE FOR THE 2024 SOLO & ENSEMBLE RESULTS

The IHSA Solo & Ensemble Contest is nearly upon us! The IHSA Solo & Ensemble Contest is scheduled for Saturday, March 2nd, 2024 at Lawrenceville High School.

The day's itinerary is as follows:

7:35 AM - Bus arrives
7:40 AM - Meet in the RCHS Rehearsal Hall
7:45 AM - Depart for Lawrenceville, IL
8:15 AM - Estimated arrival at Lawrenceville High School
3:00 PM - Estimated departure from Lawrenceville for Olney
3:30 PM - Estimated return to RCHS

Students may sign-out with a guardian following performances. Please sign-out with Mr. Jones (band) or Mr. Weitkamp (choir) before leaving.

The address for Lawrence High School is 2200 James St, Lawrence, IL 62439.

Packing List: Performance attire (you do not have to wear the concert black-and-white attire, but dress attire is required), instrument, extra reeds, musical accessories, sheet music, lunch money.

We will not leave Lawrenceville High School until the event is over. Students are encouraged to bring money, as the Lawrenceville Band Boosters is selling food and drinks.

Performance Fees:
Accompanied solos = $20
Unaccompanied solos = $10
Duet = $9 (per student)
Trio = $8 (per student)
Quartet = $7 (per student)
Quintet = $6 (per student)

Each participating student is required to pay the performance fee. Students & parents may elect to use funds that have built up in the student's band activity account. The due date for fees is March 1st. Band students, please visit https://www.cuttime.net for and log in for balance and invoices.

8:30 AM - Cally Smith (502 Arias and Art Songs) - Performance Room: 201 - Accompanied by Sherri Snider - 1 student(s)

9:20 AM - Addison Ridgely (114 Eb Alto Saxophone) - Performance Room: 302 - Accompanied by Joyce Fritschle - 1 student(s)

9:30 AM - Hadley Heath (109 Bb Clarinet) - Performance Room: 302 - Accompanied by Joyce Fritschle - 1 student(s)

9:50 AM - Emma Wells  (109 Bb Clarinet) - Performance Room: 304 - Accompanied by Joyce Fritschle - 1 student(s)

10:20 AM - Ridgely, et al (604 Saxophone Ensemble) - Performance Room: 304 - Unaccompanied - 2 student(s)

11:40 AM - Benton, et al (615 Mixed Percussion Ensemble) - Performance Room: 505 - Unaccompanied - 4 student(s)

12:30 PM -  Denton, et al (601 Flute Ensemble) - Performance Room: 302 - Unaccompanied - 2 student(s)

12:40 PM - James Wyatt Baker (205 Tuba) - Performance Room: 308 - Unaccompanied - 1 student(s)

12:50 PM - Ethan Mehl (204 Baritone/Euphonium) - Performance Room: 308 - Accompanied by Joyce Fritschle - 1 student(s)

1:10 PM - Isaac Zwilling (201 Cornet Trumpet or Flugelhorn) - Performance Room: 306 - Accompanied by Joyce Fritschle - 1 student(s)

1:20 PM - Benton, et al (653 Mixed Ensemble) - Performance Room: 117 - Accompanied by Sherri Snider - 7 student(s)

1:30 PM - Gomez , et al (610 Trombone Ensemble) - Performance Room: 308 - Unaccompanied - 4 student(s)

2:10 PM - Molly Fehrenbacher (501 Jazz & Musical Theatre) - Performance Room: 204 - Accompanied by Sherri Snider - 1 student(s)

The RCHS Honors Wind Ensemble performs at the IHSA Organizational Contest on Saturday, April 15th. Performance attire is concert black-and-white (tuxes or dresses) that were issued out to the students at the beginning of the term. Parents may sign out their sons & daughters following the last RCHS performance that morning in the assigned homeroom.

Food and drinks are available in the cafeteria. Students may purchase food and drinks after performances.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

IHSA Organizational Contest Itinerary
7:00 AM.........................Call-time at RCHS
7:05-7:30 AM................Change into black-and-white concert attire
7:25 AM...............................Buses arrive at the RCHS circle drive
7:30-8:30 AM................Travel to Salem HS and settle into assigned homeroom
9:30-9:55 PM............Honors Wind Ensemble warm-up
10:00-10:25 PM....................Honors Wind Ensemble performance
10:40-12:00 PM................Pack bus, travel to RCHS, unpack, & dismiss! (est. time)

CONTEST ADDRESS: Salem High School is located at 1200 N. Broadway St. in Salem, IL

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions at [email protected], or 618-393-2191 ext. 3157.

The RCHS Music Department participated in the 2023 IHSA Solo & Ensemble Contest at Lawrenceville High School on Saturday, March 4th, 2023. This festival is an opportunity for student-musicians from several member schools to perform for adjudication. Richland County High School had a strong showing with the following results:

BAND STUDENTS:
Division I (Superior Rating) = 16
Division II (Excellent Rating) = 3

CHOIR STUDENTS:
Division I (Superior Rating) = 3
Division II (Excellent Rating) = 2

The students that were rated Superior included Kyle Rennier, Ari Henby (three times), Wyatt Baker, Victoria Zwilling (twice), Jasper Tracy (twice), Evey Mason, Aidan Gomez, Ethan Zuber, Jordi Mendoza, Lila Balding, Brendan Kirkland, Riley Harrolle, Emma Wells (three times), James Benton (twice), Dee McKinney, Liam Ryden, Ridge Davis, Bailey Snyder, Ryan Zhu, Evan Irvin, Ethan Mehl, Molly Fehrenbacher (twice), River Logan, Sean Joyce (twice), Coy Shipman, Colleen Steber, Riley Harrolle, and Jack Williams.

The students that were rated Excellent were Isaac Zwilling, Emma Bower, Carly Houchin, Jozalyn Houser, Coy Shipman, and River Logan, 

Evan Irvin (picture on the left) and Emma Wells (picture on the right) were selected as Best in Class (deemed the best performers judged by their respective adjudicators of the day’s performances).