High Praise for LHS at District Music Festival

On March 29 the Lockwood High School Concert Band performed at the District Music Festival. At the Festival the band performs for adjudication, meaning there are two judges there that listen to the performance and assess. This is the only Montana High School Association (MHSA) event in the state where large ensembles like bands can be adjudicated for a rating.

After the performance the judges work with the band, fixing anything that needs improvement while also pointing out things the band did well.

The band received a "I", or Superior, rating for their performance! Both adjudicators, John Novotny and Todd Naaz (both recently retired band directors) gave detailed feedback and much positive praise.

The band performed "Kentucky 1800" by Clare Grundman and "Tribal Quest" by Sean O'Loughlin for the prepared pieces. Following the performance of these two works, the band is adjudicated on how well they sight-read. The Sight-Reading portion of the festival assesses the band's ability to perform something they've never seen before--a piece they've never performed or even heard previously. The band performed well but MHSA did not give ratings this year because of how much Covid has affected school bands. The comments given were great though.