This is the time of the school year when thousands of student musicians are spending countless hours in band rooms around the country trying to learn their solo for this year’s Solo Ensemble Contest. Anxieties are starting to set in and each performer wonders how they will play and what grade will they receive at contest. In order to help those faced with this nerve wrenching experience I will try to give a few hints as to how you can more productively spend your time preparing your solo. Here are a few of my observations when judging a young student…