For the opening contest of the season, Adair County High School Band Director Jordan Humphress was pleased with the fourth place finish his group had Saturday at the Taylor County Invitational in Campbellsville.
The band is progressing, he said, on schedule and he likes what he sees from the group so early in the year.
“Our show is a very exciting show and the feedback we got from it was very productive,” Humphress said. “We are looking forward to keep working on it with our students and we’re happy they got to perform in front of an audience.”
Adair County finished with 71.25 points, good enough for fourth overall and second in Class 3A behind Russell County at 74.75. Central Hardin won the overall title at 75.5.
“From our perspective, we’re asking the students to do a lot this time around,” Humphress said. “This year, we have a group that’s working really hard and are slowly but surely working their way to achieving each one of these things that we keep asking.
“Early season, the numbers kind of make sense. As we go along, these kids are going to keep shining. With those numbers, you’re going to see a large difference as we keep going through.”
Humphress said, considering the talent of the teams in the field, he figured somewhere between first and fourth would be a likely landing place for Adair County. He said it all depends on the judges, and that you can’t really do anything about where they place.
“The points just go back to the judges,” he said. “When you look at the spread, it might not be as big as you think. A couple of points may feel like a bigger gap or a smaller gap, it all just depends on the judges you have each weekend.”
A good overall team performance was how Humphress described the band’s performance Saturday. However, he said saw several groups that had fine individual efforts.
“Our woodwind section continues to get really strong, and we’ve asked a lot of our percussion this last week with things we’ve added in on them,” he said. “The color guard is getting hold of their characters in the performance. The brass lines have shown really exciting moments.”
The Adair County Band will now prepare to host its annual Mark Twain Contest. The event will begin at 2:15 p.m. and the field includes Cumberland County, Corbin, Russell County, Casey County, Metcalfe County, George Rogers Clark, Barren County, Allen County and Marion County.
“We have some wonderful groups set to perform Saturday,” Humphress said. “This is a great sample of each of the classes. It should make for an exciting final.”
Adair County will be performing an exhibition at 9 p.m.
“We’re looking for the continuation of improvement and building of confidence,” Humphress said. “It is an exciting show. For us, we want to keep adding more and more into the show, making sure the students feel confidence and execute what they’re being asked to do, and showcase it to the community Saturday night.”