Festival Band

Festival Band

By Andrew Swendsen The Etowah Festival Band performed on Friday, March 16th, 2007 in the Fannin County High School Auditorium. Under the direction of Mr. Erick Stallings and Mr. John Mote, this performance was evaluated by three judges and sight reading judge for the District LGP Evaluation. The band members and directors worked for several weeks with many extra rehearsals to prepare for this performance. As a result, they received Superior ratings from the judges on all accounts. However with superior ratings, there are still a handful of critical comments to note. One judge, Herb Cox, thought the beginning needed to be stronger. As they started their second piece, titled Amazing Grace, the judges noticed very few problems, only noting certain instruments should have played out a little more than they did, but this did not lower their superior score. Last but not least, they performed their final song with an excellent blend of a fast pace, as well as slower music, only noting they needed more tambourine. The final procedure was the sight reading evaluation. The Etowah band was required to sight read a concert level music selection. This can be an intimidating evaluation but the band did extremely well, receiving another Superior rating. The judges were obviously very impressed with the Etowah High School band and their corrections were extremely minor. It was cheerfully remarked, “You are lucky to have great directors!” by one of the judges. The Etowah High School band demonstrated that discipline and dedication to the band’s performance, along with many rehearsals provides many rewards of a job well done.