This past Friday (March 4th), the SHS band attended MPA, a state-wide Musical Performance Assessment, in order to be professionally judged on their performance. For months, the band has been preparing two pieces to perform. One was a classic MPA piece called “Chorale and Shaker Dance II”, and the second piece was an upbeat tune called “Celtic Ritual.” The SHS band blew the judges away with the technical expertise and emotion they wove into the notes of each piece, earning them a superior rating for their performance.

The second part of MPA, the sight reading portion, required the band to perform a piece that is handed to them seven minutes before they are to perform. In that seven minutes, they are allowed to work out the rhythms and pitches in any way they see fit, so long as not a single note is played on their instruments. This too, was done stupendously, earning the band a superior rating in sight reading as well. Congratulations to the band, and keep an ear out for their next performance this spring.