Concert bands under evaluation
The Cobb county music department runs everything music for the county. That would include The Cobb Exhibition, a show for all marching bands invited. On the other hand, the LGPE event evaluates concert bands, to assure that students learn the proper curriculum in the classroom. The content learned there, applied to any musical event the band attends, will further their knowledge on music.
March 8, 2022
The band held a pre-LGPE concert March 8 where all four bands performed in order from concert band two to wind symphony. Each band works on three pieces in their respective period, focusing on the balance, making sure that every musician gives their best into the pieces. The students attended multiple Saturday band camps, one of them working with middle schoolers from Barber and Awtrey.
In 2020, the wind symphony from Barber middle school went to Indianapolis for the Music for All National Festival, but the event cut short due to COVID-19. It became inconvenient for the group because they arrived in Indiana when told to go back. The same happened for all LGPE events to be held. Like everything else, it cut short due to the pandemic, and after two years we’re finally holding the event once more.
“I had a chance to do LGPE in sixth grade and I think that experience was really helpful as I knew how things worked. But yeah, COVID-19 definitely messed up everything because LGPE got cancelled for two years. It feels really nice to be able to experience [it] again and I’m thankful for being able to do it with my friends,” freshman Emily Soto said.
Now, both the NC and Barber middle wind symphonies received an invite to the Southeastern Regional Concert Festival, hosted by Georgia State University (GSU).
The current schedule for the four bands here at NC consisted of concert band one and symphonic band to perform Thursday 17, and concert band two and wind symphony to go Friday 18.
The day consisted of two parts, the performance of their pieces, where the band as a whole comes in for assessment of their tone quality and note awareness. The second part comprises sight reading pieces that the group never laid eyes on before then. They will need to accomplish studying the piece and perform it within ten minutes to a judge who will evaluate them. Considering both factors, the judges will accurately grade each band and that will end their evaluation.
“The performance overall had a few bumps but seemed to get back on track as we kept playing. Either way we got all the ones, which was so unexpected because one of our songs was honestly a mess. I’m really grateful for the experience,” Soto said.
Overall, NC bands did a great job of representing the school, and did great on all their performances. The preparations over the past two months paid off, with all four bands working diligently to prepare.
“After arriving late for our performance, we still put on an amazing show. Everyone gave their part to the music and helped represent NC. It was really fun playing the music we worked so hard on, and I can’t wait to see what we’ll be playing next,” junior Tyler Rebello said.
