Student Recognition

Students Selected for LLMEA County Band Concert

LLMEA, the Lancaster-Lebanon Music Educator Association, held a county band concert on Saturday, January 22 at Conestoga Valley High School for students from Lancaster/Lebanon middle and high schools. It was a day-long event where selected musicians spent all day practicing music together and performed the pieces in a concert. The middle school had a separate performance from the high school, but they played in the same concert.

Four musicians from Marticville, Matthew Palmari (trumpet), Aaron Keohane (berry saxophone), Myra Musser (flute) and Eliza Myers (percussion), were selected for county band. Three Manor Middle School and several Penn Manor High School musicians were chosen to perform as well, along with many other schools.

A few months before the day of County Band, students received their music and practiced each song on their own. Mr. Thai, the Marticville band director, worked with some of the students to monitor progress and gave good feedback. The students couldn’t practice as a whole until the concert.

The day of the concert, musicians arrived at 8:00 in the morning and were seated in the auditorium, waiting for the long day to start. Then middle school students departed from the high school and practiced in the band room with conductor James Ackerman, a band director at Pequea Valley Intermediate School​. Mr. Ackerman made practice fun and made everyone laugh. Musicians worked hard playing for two hours straight until they had an hour-long break at the cafeteria.

After lunch they practiced a three-hour long dress rehearsal in the auditorium and got more comfortable with the songs. Soon after that they went back to the cafeteria where they prepared for the concert and tuned instruments. By then everyone was getting to know one another and took the time to meet each other.

At 3:30, guests were starting to arrive in the auditorium. Middle School made their way to the stage and performed five songs at 4:00 - a German movement called Black Forest Overture; a Russian piece called Moscow, 1941; a song called Jungle Dance, a Chinese march called Terracotta Warriors; and lastly an American march called Valley Forge. Most of the band members enjoyed playing Terracotta Warriors and really got into it.

After the middle school performance, the High School played their portion while middle school watched in the back. When they were finished, everyone went back to the cafeteria, packed up and went home around 5:15. It was a long day, but many students enjoyed the experience since they got to meet new musicians and conductors and play as a group with them. It was worth the effort since everyone was rewarded with a successful concert.

Congratulations again to the four Marticville students who worked hard and participated in the County Band concert!

Students Selected to Aevidum Youth Advisory Board

Congratulations to the following four Marticville students who were selected to be on the Aevidum Youth Advisory Board: seventh graders Madison Landis and Casie Vaquer, and eighth graders Kaylee Brackbill and Vanessa Culburtson.

They went through a rigorous application process in order to be selected; they filled out a form a little after Christmas break. These are some of the questions that were on the application:

• Why do you want to be on the board?

• How can you benefit or make Aevidum better?

• What projects can you work on?

• How long have you been in Aevidum in your school?

• How has Aevidum helped you?

The girls were later notified via email or text telling them that they were accepted. They will be participating in Google Meets once a month with the board and students from other schools from 6-7 p.m.

The girls all enjoy being part of Aevidum here at Marticville and are looking forward to serving on the board. Madison is most excited for learning from other people on the board or different schools. Kaylee likes being on Aevidum because she feels like it's a safe space to talk freely about anything. Casie is excited to hear others' thoughts to get new ideas. Vanessa is looking forward to the opportunities that will come from being on the Aevidum Youth Advisory Board. Sophia is excited to attend a conference later this year in Kutztown.

Marticville has never had this many students selected to be on the board; congratulations to these girls for their contributions and efforts.