By Ellie Smith
Staff Writer

On Friday, April 5th, after over 3 months of preparation, the WA Symphonic band headed to Bellingham, MA to perform in the Massachusetts Instrumental and Chorale Conductors Association annual festival.

The band, made up of 58 students between 10th and 12th grades, prepared by practicing at home, rehearsing as a group at school, and working with guest conductors to improve their technique and overall playing.

After arriving at the venue, the band practiced their performance in a small warm up space before going to perform in front of a panel of adjudicators from both Boston Conservatory and Bowling Green State University.

The band played 3 selections during the performance including Kirkpatrick Fanfare by Andrew Boysen of UNH, the 3 movement composition Aquarium by composer Johan de Meij, and a transcription of Johann Strauss’ Radetzky March.

Band conductor George Arsenault feels the band played to best of their abilities and admirably showcased their talent.

“I thought they played up to their ability level and I think they were satisfied with that,” said Arsenault. “They could have played better, but I’m not sure that they left anything behind in the sense that I think they played as well as they could have.”

Following the performance, the band worked with James O’Dell of Boston Conservatory in order to reflect on their performance. He worked with them on many broad concepts that the ensemble as a whole could improve on. This section focused mainly on dynamic range, or the range of soft and loud sounds and blending the instrument families together.

“I always like listening to comments from the adjudicators,” said Arsenault. “They are university level ensemble directors with decades of experience. I like hearing tips for me as a teacher and concepts that we could work on that I could approach in a different way.”

After watching other high schools perform, the band received a silver medal with a score of 118 out of a possible 135 points.

In the future, the band plans to continue to participate in the widely recognized MICCA festival to improve their sound quality and complexity of music they are able to play.

Band president Sam Lovitz was the representative who received the award for the group. He enjoyed the experience and feels that the critiques given to the band after the performance will help them to improve as a whole.

“I thought it was nice to have a concrete outside rating of the band,” said Lovitz. “It’s nice to get that feedback so we know what to work on to be better for next year.”