Even as the season of winter drags on with cold temperatures and dreary weather, the Nazareth Academy concert band is booked with an exciting and full schedule that entails performing at the Annual State of the Art competition and the Midwest Music Festival.
Second semester is a busy time for the band members and band director, Mr. Boland. Right after marching season ends, they jump right into concert mode, practicing different concert pieces to perform at the competitions and the winter concert. This year for the competitions, the band will be playing a march called the “Gallop” by Dmitri Shostakovich, a piece from the musical comedy “Moscow, Cheremushky” and “I Am” by Andrew Boysen Jr., a song in memory of a boy that died in a tragic car accident.
The band’s first event was the State of the Art Catholic high school competition hosted by St. Viator High School on February 18. This was the thirty-first year that the Illinois Knights of Columbus have sponsored this competition where over 900 students from different Catholic schools gather together and perform. Each school entered one or more bands at different levels, single A being the lowest and AAA being the highest. The bands in the same levels competed against each other for the highest score on their song selections.
In past years, Nazareth has entered two bands at different levels, one band of mostly freshman and sophomores and the other of juniors and seniors. However, this year, like last year, all of the members of the Nazareth band were entered as one band in the AA level. Each band entered into the competition performs at different times in front of three qualified judges. These bands are judged on nine elements of musical performance, including how well the different instruments blend together, the tone of the instruments and attention to dynamics and articulation. Three judges score the band and the average of those scores will be each band’s final score, which will be compared to the other bands in the level to determine the placing.
The Naz band ended the competition in fourth place with a score of 88 out of 100, 6 points higher than last year. The band and Boland are happy with this result and is very proud of the fact that one of the judges gave them a score of 93, which was one point higher than the winning band’s average score of a 92.
After the band performed its best at State of the Art, they moved on to Lemont High School for the twenty-fourth annual Midwest Music Festival on Feb. 25.
This competition brought 30 schools from across Chicagoland to perform for three judges like SOTA, but this time the bands competed against themselves instead of each other. Every year the bands want to get a rating that is higher than the year before with a scale of one to three, with three being the lowest. Again, the judges each give the band a score and the average is the band’s final score.
This year the band received an overall score of 2, but unlike last year, none of the judges rated the band at a 3. The band considers this an accomplishment, and so does former band director, Mr. Beltran, who made a surprise visit to the competition.
These days were not only an exciting time for the band, but also a sentimental time for the senior members of the band.
“I am going to miss the camaraderie and friendship that comes with these competitions. SOTA and Midwest always gave us all common goals to work for, a reason to get better. The band never truly becomes a family until it is time to compete. Not to mention that these shows are also some of the most fun days of the year. Hanging out all day with a bunch of band geeks, what could be better? I will miss these days a lot next year,” explained Nick Pondel, a senior bari-saxophone/ French horn player.
These days will hold a special place in the hearts of the seniors, who were happy with their performances and who have many new memories to take with them to college. These last few winter months were very important for the band members, and Nazareth congratulates them on a job well done.
