A variety of Poly’s student ensembles attended the Millikan Band and Orchestra Festival on March 17th and 18th and delighted the judges with outstanding performances including classic orchestral repertoire and modern compositions.
A wide range of pieces were performed by Poly’s musical groups at Festival, including Holsts’ “Mars” and “Venus” from The Planets and “Blue Shades” by Frank Tichelli
Middle and high school bands and orchestras from across Southern California performed in front of a panel of three judges who evaluated the quality of their performance based on tone, pitch, overall musicality, etc. The groups then received their final scores, ranging from poor to superior, superior being the highest score a group can receive. Post-performance, the orchestras were tested on their sight-reading skills, and the bands experienced a valuable clinic from one of the judges in their panel.
For further improvements, recordings of comments from all three judges were provided and used to tweak the bands’ and orchestras’ performances.
“Festival allows us to develop ourselves both individually and as an ensemble with the help of professional advice from three well-practiced professional musicians,” said Jeffrey Lam, concertmaster of Chamber Orchestra.
Overall, the Poly orchestras and bands performed strongly. Full Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, and Symphonic Winds received unanimous ratings of superior. The Symphonic String Orchestra and Concert Band received overall grades of excellent.
“They performed very well despite the move to Millikan. I’m very proud,” said music teacher Mr. Osman.
Poly’s annual Scholarship concert will be held at LBCC on the 27th for orchestras and on the 28th for bands, and will feature senior solos from Eddie Oliver, Sihyun Ahn, and Chelsea Cameron.
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