 Bemidji State University's Wind Ensemble has spent the past few months getting ready for a big performance down in the Twin Cities. Reporter Cheryl Moore brings us behind the scenes of a special pre-concert they held on campus today for this week's In Focus. The Bemidji State University Wind Ensemble will be heading down to the Twin Cities next Thursday to perform at the 2019 Minnesota Music Educators Association Mid-Winter Clinic. Although before that, they thought it'd be a good idea to get some feedback from the local community first. It's the first time that the band has been invited to perform at Minnesota Music Educators Association Mid-Winter Clinic in some 14 years. So we're really excited to be back. And for such a big event, we wanted to create an event not too far ahead of that so that we have a little time to rehearse some more. The Wind Ensemble has been practicing three times a week since October. We've been like just briefly looking at it and then as soon as we finished our fall concert and tour, we really hit hard. And I think just like it's taken a lot of like individual practice and it's just been a really cool experience so far. The performance will have six pieces total and a few of them truly have a BSU touch. The first piece is entitled Nin Gabi Anose, and it is a Ojibwe word for ice crystals forming in cold air. And it was commissioned specifically for the centennial of the Mid-East State University this year, so we're really excited. Another song, The Solitary Dancer, was the highlight piece for BSU's 50th anniversary. And the finale, Instinctive Travels, plays a big role in the hearts of a lot of members of the band. Particularly Solitary Dancer had a lot of work put into it just because a lot of the parts are so, so specific to each player. And if one person is even an eighth note off, it can throw off the entire piece. I really like the last we played, Instinctive Travels. You know, it's kind of, there's a lot of good brassy stuff in it that I enjoy playing a lot. The whole group is excited to showcase their talents at MMEA. They hope audiences will enjoy their performance just as much as they enjoy playing. I think a big thing that's really important about this is that it gets Bemidji State on the map for potential students. And hopefully they hear our wind ensemble and they're like, hey, that sounds really good. I would like to go there and pursue music. Reporting in Bemidji with This Weeks in Focus, Shremorne, Lakeland News.