A Musical Experience

Author's Note: This essay was an assignment for band class after our spring concert. The assignment was to write an evaluation essay in the point of view of a music critic. 

On Wednesday, March 6th, 2013, the 7th and 8th grade Asa Clark Middle school bands performed. The performance took place in the Pewaukee High School auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Beautiful music was played that night, and it was very moving and sent a clear message. There were some trip-ups, but both bands powered through and kept playing. Overall, the bands performed very well, and there was great expression and professionalism throughout. 

The 7th grade band performed first. They looked very professional through their whole performance, and I enjoyed it very much. In their first piece, the tone was a bit off, but they picked it up and played nicely in the second piece with the recognizable dynamics and flow. The third piece was nice, because the articulation made a big difference in how the piece sounded. I thought the fourth piece was very creative with the clapping rhythm, and the fifth piece was my favorite with the time signature and tempo changes. 

After the 7th grade band, the 8th grade band came up to the stage to fill the auditorium with music. Their performance was magical, because the pieces really communicated the messages they were supposed to. For example, in the first piece, the message was "war" and the band really showed that with their dynamics and expression. The second piece was definitely my favorite piece, because the story behind it was about a locomotive chase, and the band made it sound like there was an actual train in the auditorium! The flutes made a train whistle noise by bending flat, and the snare drums really sounded like a steam engine moving and speeding up. The rest of the performance was great, with good dynamics and expression.

Both performances were amazing, with any mistakes being forgotten by the musicality of each piece. The bands obviously worked very hard to perfect their performances, with a great conductor to pull it all together. The bands acted professional through their entire performance; not one student was out of line. I enjoyed the performance very much.