Concert Festival

Today we went to Concert Festival. I'll try to give you the play-by-play of the day.

I've been a basket-case since last week. I don't get nervous, just weird. I can't explain it. It's the same thing I do every time we take a trip. Even if it's just a day trip to Cincinnati, I get all crazy before we leave the house. Rushing around, trying to remember everything.....I got nuts. Needless to say, I've been on edge all week and this morning was no different. The problem is not me, but them. Teenage kids don't seem to realize the significance of these important days. I would think, "hmmm - today is festival day, perhaps I should not act like the crazy teen that I am and make mature decisions for the next several hours" This thought did not occur to some of my children. Nothing drastic, but should I really have to utter the words, "Johnny! Please do not twirl the triangle over your head like a lasso while we are warming up!"

Anyway, I got them all on the bus and off to the festival we went. As we were waiting to go into the warm-up area, I saw the score sheet from yesterday. eek. There were IV's. Let me explain the scoring system. Each band is rated by the following scale:

I - Distinguished (ky) or Superior (tn)
II - Proficient (ky) or Excellent (tn)
III - Apprentice (ky) or Average (tn)
IV - Novice (ky) or Poor (tn)

Usually at festival the judges will give a large dose of I's and II's with an occasional III and almost never, ever, EVER a IV. These judges were giving IV's. And lots of III's. Yikes.

Warm-up went well. Our performance went well. Usually I plan on one major catastrophe during the performance. Today we didn't have one, so I was very pleased. They did everything that we practice and rehearsed. It was great. Earlier I had given the speech that we need to be proud of ourselves and not have to depend on a "number" or some judges' comments to feel good about ourselves. They had worked hard and there is no way that judge can tell how much they've improved or how far they've come in that little 20 min snippet that they got to see on stage. We went to the Sight-Reading room. That, also, went well.
We came out of sight-reading to put our instruments back on the bus when the festival manager came up to me with a large manilla envelope. It was our score packet. I had imagined that I would pick this up from the judges' table in private before we left. I was hoping to see our score and comments and be able to prepare a speech before I had to reveal anything to the kids. No such luck. They saw that envelope and suddenly I was mobbed. Literally. Mobbed. Up against a wall with 20 screaming kids saying, "OPEN IT! OPEN IT! MRS. BARHAM! OPEN IT!" I tried to back away but they were persistent.
You should know that the festival manager is also our district music supervisor. She is head of all that is music in Jefferson County. She was standing in the back of the mob. As the kids are about ready to rip open the packet themselves, she tells me, "Go ahead - open it." Then I knew it was okay. She wouldn't let me open a IV in front of them. So I peeked inside. And then I saw that precious little word. Distinguished. We got a I. The highest rating possible. Of all the bands in our category, we were the only Distinguished rating given. I pulled out the paper and turned it around for the kids to see. There was screaming and yelling all around. It was very sweet. It was a good moment. I will try to remember that moment tomorrow when I have to tell some kid that it is NOT a good idea to practice marching band quad music on the timpani.

**I'll post a recording as soon as I get it on the computer**