Photo Courtesy of Carlos Hernandez
Advanced Band is “superior” at SCSBOA Festival
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Decked out in ties, skirts, and uniforms, advanced band and concert band members loaded their instruments onto the buses and prepared for a long day at the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association (SCSBOA) Festival on March 22 at Bellflower High School. They prepared for this event since the beginning of fall, and their efforts did not go to waste, bringing home superior and excellent ratings.
Performing songs that were handpicked by band director Tammy Cognetta, both bands had the opportunity to prove their music playing capability at the festival. Three judges carefully decided whether their performances were poor, fair, good, excellent, or superior. Advanced band got two superiors and one excellent, achieving the superior rating, while concert band got one superior and two excellents, achieving the excellent rating.
“I’m impressed with everybody’s performance,” Cognetta said. “Both bands held up so well under that kind of pressure―to play as close to what the judges might deem [as] perfect is major.”
For Advanced Band, getting superior meant that they qualified to perform at the regional festival on May 20 at Palm Desert High School.
“Having the opportunity [to go to a regional festival] is pretty special since we don’t exactly get superior ratings all the time,” sophomore Max Mora said.
Although the criteria are the same for the regional festival, the judging process will be much more difficult because the expectations are higher. Still, receiving additional feedback from stricter judges would help the band grow musically.
“Regional festivals are a chance to challenge the band’s skills and help everyone become better musicians,” band president Lisa Nguyen said.
Though, achieving superior and excellent ratings did not come without any challenges. For many concert band members, it was their first time performing at a festival.
“It was scary because I didn’t know what to expect,” freshman Yvonne Chu said. “I was scared that I’d mess up and cost points.”
Despite “some nerves,” Cognetta believes “they had very challenging music and that in itself says a lot about them.”
“The fact that we have them next year to make the band even stronger is just going to be great,” Cognetta said. “To be able to do what the judges want in the way of blending and blending our sounds―just playing more musically―it just comes with more practice and experience.”
