Last Thursday, the Adair County High School Band earned straight Distinguished ratings at their District 3 KMEA Performance Assessment in Bowling Green.
“We are actually in District 10, but we went to (Bowling Green) because it is a really nice facility at Western, and they always do such a good job at running that event,” said band director Jonathan Holmes. “When the kids put so much time and effort and energy into that performance assessment, I wanted to make sure they got an opportunity to play at a nice location. The adjudicators at the event were really top notch, as well,” said.
For the assessment, the band played two pieces of music that Holmes had chosen and they had rehearsed. These pieces consisted of “Rituals” by Roland Barrett and “Colors for a New Day” by Aaron Meacham. “Rituals,” Homes says, was the band’s technical showcase while “Colors for a New Day” was an upbeat song.
The final piece of music was chosen by the judges, and the band was expected to play it without having seen it before—a category of the assessment called “sight reading.” The band also earned Distinguished in this category.
“This year… we had a lot of middle school students that participated. The challenge for us was that we did a lot of preparation after school,” Holmes said. “The middle school kids, we tried to make sure they had opportunity (to practice)… They had a lot of after school rehearsal time. Our entire trombone section was middle school students, primarily sixth graders. So I was just tremendously proud that they were able to learn that music. They really cared about it. I think that is a good omen for the future.”
Earning Distinguished in their assessment qualifies the band for state, though Holmes says going is another story.
“Not everybody goes to the state performance assessment even if you qualify. I have never taken a group to that event… Sometimes the timing is tough. We have got a lot of irons in the fire at that point,” Holmes said.
For now, instead, the band is looking forward to their upcoming spring concert, which will be held on May 4 at 3 p.m., and the reveal of 2025 marching band show theme, which will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday.
Holmes stated that in his experience, a good concert band season usually precipitates a good marching band season. With straight Distinguished scores from the judges, the Adair County Band appears to be gearing up for one such season.
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com
