Music festival season is here, and to celebrate not just student musicians in the Santa Clarita Valley but also in neighboring cities, West Ranch High School hosted the 2025 Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association’s two-day music festival.
The festival last week saw over 1,400 students attend, ready to perform in front of adjudicators and test their music literacy skills through a “sight reading” segment and connect with other local and non-local musicians.
SCV schools that participated in this year’s event were: Arroyo Seco Junior High School, Castaic High School, Placerita Junior High School, West Ranch High School, Golden Valley High School, Canyon High School, Sierra Vista Junior High School, Hart High School and La Mesa Junior High School. West Ranch High School’s Director of Instrumental Music Rod Schueller believes “it’s good for our students to be evaluated by a set of educated and objective,” experienced professionals, because it’s important to receive feedback from an outside source to work at bettering their craft.
As students trickled in and out of the school’s auditorium after their performances, which were open and free to the public, Castaic High School Director of Concert Band Eugene Kim expressed the importance of “sight reading” and how the two-day festival is one of the few events that still focuses on the skill.
Sight reading is when a musician receives a piece of music for the first time and is given the opportunity to play on the spot in front of other peers, according to Kim.
“That’s a skill that’s really hard. Being able to read music is so important and the ability to sight read is a very traditional classical skill, but if you want to be fluent in music or any language you have to read it,” he said, adding that he believes his students did very well. The ensemble of musicians began their music literacy practice about a month and a half before the festival, constantly preparing to execute the sheet of music they were given on the day of the event.
What he hoped his students gained from the experience is the feeling of performing live, which can be terrifying, Kim said, because students are afraid of what other people think about them, especially nowadays with a world surrounded by social media and first impressions.
“Music is special because you get to share it. Any art is only special because you can share it with others. If you just keep it to yourself, it’s not as special. Being able to share it with their parents, their friends is special. Being able to get feedback so that they can get even better is really important,” Kim said.
According to Schueller, performance and sight-reading adjudicators are SCSBOA members and music teachers from high schools throughout the county.
For his West Ranch students, “they were really impressed with their musicianship and the craft of playing their instrument. That was almost a unanimous comment from each of the judges,” he said.
The event came to fruition with a large part of the help coming from the West Ranch’s band booster collective, which is largely made up of parents.
Booster Co-President Pam Langenwalter believes the annual event inspires the new generation of musicians and the possibilities they can achieve when perfecting their talent and pursuing it in high school.
“We have several junior high students or schools that have participated. There’s camaraderie and it’s a way to keep them out of trouble, and keep them motivated. Some of them just love music, they love the friendships.”
Maile Mallari Hernandez, a multidisciplined musician in her senior year at West Ranch, wanted to be a part of the music ensemble because of their determination and drive.
“Music is important in life. It’s one of the best joys to have,” she said. “I feel like expression, and being confident to perform inspires the people that you perform for and keeps the art going.”
West Ranch freshman Joaquin Antonio added: “Your craft is important to you. When you show it to other people it gives you a good feeling, like pride in a way. Every time I come off the stage, I tell myself, ‘Wow I really did that.’”
