2012 Band Festival

This past Thursday, February 16, the middle school and high school bands went to a festival held at Covenant Christian Schools.

Both went as a combined band, making us one of the biggest there, which is different for us. Usually, the bands from other schools at the festivals we’ve gone to in the past have been huge in comparison.

Before we performed, we watched a junior high band play. They were pretty good, and it was interesting to see a different band play.

We played three songs, a march called The Earl of Oxford’s March, which is an English march, and much more slow and stately than the marches that we are used to in America. The second was On A Hymnsong of Philip Bliss, which is as arrangement of the hymn It Is Well With My Soul. It is a very beautiful and flowing piece, and it contrasted well with the third song. Wood County Celebration is a fast song, and it does really sound like a celebration. I think that one was my favorite of the three, though I do really like the other ones.

After the performance, the band went into a separate room to have a sort of workshop with one of the judges, who helped us perfect some of the parts on each song. Some of the things he mentioned were the same things our director, Mr. Finn, had been telling us all along.

The rating system for these competitions ranges from one to five, one being the absolute best, and five being the absolute worst. This year we received straight twos from all three judges. The judges are directors and musicians from around the area, actually some of the best in it.

After we were all done, we got back on the bus and went to the school, where we helped unload and then were able to go home.

- Anna Swanson, Sophomore