March is certainly a time of madness, and this is especially true for the McCracken County High School band program. After missing school for what seemed like hundreds of field trips, Road to Rupp, and all of the other crazy events the band has outside of school hours, comes Concert Festival. This is what the band spends the majority of the Spring practicing for, and it takes place at Murray State University in the Lovett Auditorium.

The Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, and Orchestra all performed. The Symphonic Band performed Into the Clouds by Zach Sobiech and American Riversongs by Pierre La Plante (directed by John Lovell), and Earth Song by Frank Ticheli (directed by Kelley Ray). Wind Ensemble, which is McCracken’s higher level band, performed Dusk by Steven Bryant and Apollo Unleashed by Frank Ticheli, both under the direction of John Lovell. Orchestra performed Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by J.S Bach and An English Suite by Henry Purcell, directed by Melissa Bogle.

For Concert Festival, each of these songs is scored by a panel of professional judges who offer the schools feedback in order to improve for future performances. While the bands have not received these scores yet, the bands did very well and played pieces that are challenging but well prepared for. After these pieces were performed, each band moved on to a scored, “sight reading” which is when the band plays a piece they have never seen before, and this is scored as well. The bands are given a few minutes to look over the piece individually – McCracken’s band uses a technique called STARS (signatures, time, articulations, rhythms, and symbols) – a few minutes to get instruction from the director, then a few minutes to practice tricky parts of the piece. Then the scored performance begins.

Concert Festival happens every spring, and it is a wonderful concert to consider attending in future years. Show support for McCracken’s band, and good job everyone!