NEWELL—Standing up in front of people and asking to be judged is something most people would rather avoid. However, two brave musicians from Newell High School embraced the challenge when they competed in the 2026 Region 8 Solo and Ensemble Contest.
The contest was for both vocal and instrumental performances. It was held at the Monument Civic Center and Rapid City Central High School on February 18. Over 1000 students competed for a rating on their performance.
Bianca Bierman and Jenna Yule represented Newell at the contest—that is something that hasn’t happened for quite some time in Newell. “Jenna and Bianca are both competing for the high school contest at the Rapid City Civic Center. Newell has not been there for years and years and years,” explained Music Director Kimberly Bachman. “In fact, we were not even included on the email—I had to hunt it down—so we’re really excited to go back to contest this year!”
Bianca played flute and Jenna sang a solo. Bianca’s competition song was “Dust in the Wind” and she was accompanied by Jonah Braning on the guitar. “I’m very proud of these brave souls,” said Bachman.
The musicians were judged on a variety of skills including: tone, intonation, accuracy, interpretation/musicianship, vocal technique and other factors for vocal solo and tone, intonation, rhythm, interpretation/musicianship, technique and other factors for wind instrument solo.
The students ended up with a superior #1 rating for Jenna and her vocal performance and #3 rating for Bianca on the flute.
Region 8 music contest consists of 19 schools. They are: Belle Fourche, Custer, Douglas, Edgemont, Elk Mountain, Harding County, Hill City, Hot Springs, Lead-Deadwood, New Underwood, Newell, Oelrichs, Rapid City Central, Rapid City Christian, Rapid City Stevens, Spearfish, St. Thomas More, Sturgis Brown and Takini.
Read the full issue of the Belle Fourche Beacon by clicking here.
