Submitted by Les Aeschliman
In the world of performance, (music, speech, and drama) contest does not always mean rankings and trophies. MSHSAA large group, the event that the high school band attended Friday, March 8th, is an example of this.
We put on our best dress and play, on stage, two prepared pieces for three judges. They judge our merits and deficiencies as we play. After we finish on stage, we are escorted to another room, where we are handed a brand-new piece of music none of the band has ever seen or heard before. We are allowed six minutes to look at it, discuss, and prepare the piece without making any sound on instruments. Playing beforehand results in a disqualification. The group gets one shot at playing the new piece. We are judged on our preparatory actions and performance. This is called sight-reading.
The judging scale has always gone from 1, the best, to 5. In the last few years, descriptives have been added. The highest rating a performance group can receive is “Exemplary”. A 2 is “Outstanding” and a 3 is “Satisfactory”.
Schuyler high school band received exemplary ratings from all three judges on our prepared pieces, as well as the judge in the sight-reading room. Some of the best comments are as follows:
Your attention to detail is impeccable!
It was truly a treat to hear you play today, very musical, very expressive.
Wow! Solos on every part, great job!
Under “Areas to improve on” one judge only commented
Keep doing what you are doing
There were more as well as actual areas to improve, articulation being one of our own goals to improve.
The band members are to be commended for the efforts it has taken to achieve this Highest rating at MSHSAA state contest. This is an honor we have not received in quite some time. We did the best at which we are capable. So, yes, we won.
