On Thu., Mar. 13, 2014, the Bel Air High School Band traveled to C. Milton Wright High School to participate in the Harford County Festival Assessments.

When a group participates in the assessments their onstage performance is critiqued by three judges with musical backgrounds. Often, the judges are directors of university or community bands. This allows the students to hear the opinions of someone other than their own director. The groups are judged on a 1 to 5 scale, 1 being a superior rating and 5 being a total absence of basic skills.

“Festival is really the only opportunity where we can guarantee that we have at least three people in the audience that actually have music backgrounds, so it’s one of the very few times where we actually have people out there just to assess our performance,” said BAHS band director Mr. Domenico.

The Bobcats were the second group to perform that day. They performed the pieces, “At Sunrise”, “Perthshire Majesty” and “American Barndance”. The students had prepared for several weeks before Festival but they had to adjust their performance based on the new stage and environment.

“The new environment forces students to really listen to each other in order to blend and have good intonation. Being in a new environment also brings a new set of nerves which can add good energy to the music but also leave room for silly mistakes,” said Junior saxophonist Brittany Packard.

The groups rarely have an audience at Festival. The judges and a few other schools are the only people that get to hear the performances on stage.

“It really shouldn’t [effect a performance]. But it’s easy to not put as much effort into the music because no one gets to hear it. You also don’t receive [a lot] of applause which can be discouraging,” said Junior trumpeter Taylor Quinn.

Overall, the group received a 2 for their performance which is an excellent rating. They also received a 2 in sight-reading. This does not permit them to go on to participate in the State Festival.