Lois Wang, a soon-to-be 12th-grader at BASIS Independent Brooklyn, scored a 99 of 100 on her cello solo at the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Spring Evaluation Festival. She played on a Level VI performance level, which is the highest, most difficult level one can do, according to the school’s music teacher, Luis Ingels. An adjudicator noted her “wonderful dynamics,” “lovely phrasing” and “wonderful tone.”
Wang participated in the festival over the last several years, but this was her last one – ending her NYSSMA chapter on a very high note. She plans to enter cello competitions in the future.
Ingels has built and shaped a modern band program at the school, which combines band, orchestra and guitar.
“Music really helped me express myself in middle school and high school. I was really pretty reserved and shy in general, but being in a community of musicians helped me stand out in a way that I wouldn’t have stood out in any other place,” he said in an article with his alma mater, Columbia Teachers College, in January. “I want to invite students to explore why music is so powerful and how we can express our emotions through different elements of song.”
In other music-related news, the school band, led by Ingels, and school choir, led by Ms. Taylor, played at Disney World this year as part of the Disney Performing Arts series. Students also perform in the annual Winter Concert, complete with band and choir performances, in addition to a Fine Arts Festival at the end of the school year.
“Each year the events have grown bigger and better,” Jo Goldfarb, director of communication at BASIS Independent Brooklyn, told us. “Mr. Ingels has even started a pep band to play at some of our sporting events and a wind ensemble to allow cello players, like Lois, to shine.”
Top photo from BASIS Independent Brooklyn’s Twitter
Author
George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and fixes pinball machines.
