Concert Report 3

Name: James Donkor

Concert:
Concert Patuxent Valley Middle School/ Wilde Lake Middle School

This performance was a middle school adjudication on March 22, 2012 at River Hill
High School. The bands i saw perform were: Patuxent Valley Middle School and Wilde Lake
Middle School. Patuxent performed Devil Dance, Krakatoa, and Novena. Wilde Lake performed
Pueblo, The Voyagers, and The Dream Catcher. These two bands played for the purpose of
receiving feedback from established music educators in order to improve their overall sound.
Both performances were successful because the groups took the audience by surprise through
their playing of challenging repertoire beyond the standard level of middle school students.

Patuxent Valley started of with Devil Dance by Kinyon. It starts with interval jumps in
the brass section and is repeated throughout almost the whole song. Chromatics played a
huge part in the song as the brasses played descending lines throughout, yet these accidentals
could be brought out. The clarinet intonation at the slow section was very sharp, but the group
transitioned very well to the changing tempos and responded well to the dynamics the director,
Mr. Twigg, was motioning them to do. Their second selection was Krakatoa by Owen. The
fast-paced song was introduced by a fantastic oboe solo with brass accominament. The song
slowed tempos three times and each was after a percussion soli. At the second slow section,
the melody is very similar to Mars from the suite The Planets, by Gustav Holst. In this song, the
director seemed to very precise with his hand movement, yet the band still strayed away from
Mr. Twiggs lead. Their third song was Novena by Swearingen. The beginning chimes didnt
line up with the director and neither did the flute and sax soli. The whole band also seemed to
breath in two bar phrases at times, which was a little odd since it left a few gaps in the sound.
Overall, the band was excellent (II) the reason being for clearly audible intonation problems and
loss of tempo.

Wilde Lake Middle School played Pueblo (Land of Ancient People) by Higgins. When the
band was coming on stage, I was completely shocked and almost a little scared to see eleven
alto saxophones and no tenors nor baritones! I was very nervous for Mr. Messick, the director,
and assumed there would be major balance problems, yet to my surprise the band managed
very well with their numbers. The flutes intonation in the beginning of the song was all over the
place and the trumpet sound was very dull and seemed muted (might have been because they
were playing into their stands). The song also had a very good recorder solo performed by their
first flutist. Their second song was the voyagers La Plante. La Plantes melody was similar to
Old McDonalds. Intonation was again a major problem in both movements. Also the off beats
in the second movement was not keeping up with the director and the saxophone accents had
way too much tongue instead of tone. Yet, near the end, the band had a very thorough subito
piano and crescendo to the end. Their third song was The Dream Catcher by McBeth. The
piece starts with bells, then with a woodwind and brass exchange. The band used pencils and
music stands as percussion instruments which was very interesting. This song was actually
without many flaws, except for clarinet intonation and the first chair oboist sticking out.

Some may argue that this performance was unsuccessful because both performances
had their evident mistakes especially with intonation and note accuracy. Yet, I feel that any
one saying that is holding these eleven and twelve year olds at a standard that professionals
may not even achieve. This performance i feel was a huge success because it showed me the
immense amount talent that can arise from a middle schooler.

Overall, both bands had some problems that stuck out, but the groups played
extraordinary for their age group with difficult literature which is not something a teenager
should be expected to do. It is very good to know that Howard County maintains high
expectations of music performance at all levels and not just at River Hill.


















Patuxent Valley Middle: Excellent (II)- crazy intonation, some wrong notes
Wilde Lake Middle: Excellent (II)- intonation, note accuracy, tempo maintenance