On May 1, Lafayette musicians competed in the MSHASS State Music Festival Solo & Ensemble.  Of these students, six received perfect scores of 1.

Junior Ryan Park earned his score by playing Larghetto by Mozart on the clarinet.

“I didn’t have much time to prepare for my performance or even think about it because I had to go to prom that night,” Park said. “I didn’t even have time to get nervous, which was good for me.”

Another plus for Park was that there was not an audience.

“I could just concentrate on my performance,” he said.

Sophomore Mihir Parthasarathy performed in a saxophone quartet.

“The quartet consisted of Nick Maluf on soprano saxophone, me on alto sax, Eric Pascoe on tenor sax and Christian Pierce on baritone sax,” Parthasarathy said.

Unlike Park, they were able to practice as much as they needed.

“We started off by each practicing our individual parts then putting it together two weeks before District and State,” Parthasarathy said.

This and his performance last year assuaged his nerves.

“I was not nervous this time because it was my second time getting a 1 at state, so there was not as much pressure as my freshman year,” Parthasarathy said.

Junior Natalie Ferree also received a score of 1.