This past weekend, almost all of Pleasant Valley’s musicians took part in the State Large Group Contest held at Bettendorf High School. Now, the word “contest” may be a little misleading as it isn’t a contest in any way. While bands and musicians are getting judged, there is no winner or any outcome other than getting a high score.
Scoring is based on a point system with eight different categories. The categories consist of things such as intonation, balance and blend, technique, musicianship and other factors. Bands can earn a total of up to five points in each category, which makes a perfect score a 40. A 40 point score, however, isn’t the only way to receive a Division I, or superior rating: the highest rating a band can receive. Anywhere from 40 to 36 points is a Division I superior rating, 35 to 30 gives you a Division II excellent rating, 29 to 22 is a Division III good rating, 21 to 12 a Division IV fair rating and 11 to 8 division V poor rating. The last two are hardly ever seen.
Each ensemble has an exact amount of performance time and must fit their set within that time or they will be cut off or possibly disqualified if they continue on.
All of the ensembles at Pleasant Valley have been hard at work preparing for this performance and hoping to get good scores, and good scores did they get. Out of the 12 ensembles participating, 10 got Division I superior ratings and the other two earned Division II excellent.
String orchestra and full orchestra both performed on Friday night, each earning a Division I. Saturday was the busiest, with some students singing or playing in up to three different performances.
The band had four entries with Wind Symphony, Wind Ensemble and Concert Band all earning a Division I and Symphonic Band earning a Division II. Wind Symphony even got a perfect ballot. Senior band member Kate Mickle said, “It was a great last performance and I loved getting to play with my friends all throughout high school.”
The choir program had six entries in the day. Chamber Choir and Women’s Ensemble each got a Division I, Chamber Choir earned a perfect score and Concert Choir got a Division II rating. Chamber Choir and Concert Choir then split up into smaller groups for the Select Treble Choir (consisting of chamber choir girls), Concert Treble Choir, and Varsity Men’s Ensemble: each earned a Division I. The Select Treble Ensemble earned three perfect ballots, the highest honor you can receive; this is the first time this has happened in the ensemble’s history.
“It was so great to see all of our hard work pay off,” said senior Roshni Nair. “After months of rehearsal and working on every small detail, I wasn’t surprised with how well our programs did. Our teachers put in a lot of time and effort to create the best musicians and ensembles around.”
Pleasant Valley music had an outstanding showing at Large Group Contest and we are proud of all the hard work and time they put in to give such amazing performances. Congratulations to all in the music department.
