Sorry it's taken me so long to post this news--here's how our awesome Large Group Contest went!

I spent most of the Tuesday evening before letting go of stuff: letting go of not having all the kids show up, or that they wouldn't make it to school earlier than normal to make our departure time, that they wouldn't play well, that they would misbehave.

I set up the day so that we would basically be at the school all day. I didn't think much about an alternate activity to break up the time, but kind of assumed in the back of my mind that with all the middle school teachers accompanying us as chaperones, and the kids having their laptops, they would take advantage of the time to get homework done. Plus, I had assigned the kids to write responses to the other bands they heard, and to their own performance and experience, if they chose.

The 6th grade bus was due to leave at 7:3o am sharp. By 7:25 we had all the 6th grade kiddoes on board and checked in. I did say ALL. 100%. We drove down to the other school where we would be doing the contest, and when we arrived, I got out first and held the waste basket up so that the kids could spit their gum out as they exited the bus. I had talked to the principal so I knew their school rules were a bit stricter than ours, regarding cell phones and ipods and things; the gum was just my extra insurance that the 6th graders would begin to focus on their performance in about half an hour.

We went to the gym, left our coats and instrument cases, and the kids sat in the bleachers and warmed up. They looked a little shocked and were somewhat quiet. As the student aide escorted us to the band room to warm up, the other bus with the 7th, 8th and 9th graders arrived and they set up camp in the auditorium. All but one of this class was present, and that poor boy was home sick--he looked miserable in class the previous day. We warmed up and took some pictures, and then it was our turn on the stage.

Due to a mix-up with seating charts, our set-up was not ready so there was a little fussing over that. We played our three songs. I think we could have left off one of them. The kids did really well, even the squirmy percussion players and the two girls who pretended to play the snare drum all through class, and the saxophone players only missed that one note that they always miss, the high G, that I have no idea how to fix. I was so proud of them. The stage made us sound really good.

My friend J, the band director at the local college, was one of the adjudicators and he came up on stage after our performance to work with us for a little while. He was so friendly to the kids, just like he is to us adults at grown-up band, and the kids felt comfortable with him. We were told we needed to work on intonation, balance, and blend, things I already knew we were weak on. When we exited the stage I could feel the kids' excitement and relief. Some of them said things like, wow, we sounded good! And, that was fun!

We sat outside the auditorium for a little while and I had the kids write about their experience. I felt a lot of relief after our performance, myself. I had done everything I could to make our school come across as a good school where things were done well, not shoddily. I did this by making sure our scores were original and that we had permissions to make copies of the out of print ones, making sure the kids knew they were under strict orders to obey the rules of the school and be a good audience. Again, thank goodness for the laptops! These little gadgets really helped keep the kids' behavior in check. Also, I really impressed the judges with the gigantic paperclips I used to clip their scores together.

We spent the rest of the morning listening to some of the other bands perform, and the kids chose which ones they wanted to write about. There was another 6th grade band, and we heard a high school band and another middle school band. I watched the conductors carefully. Most of them had a strange style where they conducted way up high with their hands and wrists. It occurs to me now that it reminds me of drum major conducting. I personally have never played under any conductor that uses that style.

After a little snafu getting to lunch, which I'll gloss over, the kids took a break and had their meal. I'm so grateful to our district for helping us pay for lunch! The kids enjoyed their break and we headed back to the school. The 6th graders stayed to watch their schoolmates perform, and they spent the afternoon either in the gym (supervised by their math teacher, a former basketball coach) or in the auditorium listening to the performances and using (either working or playing) their laptops.

Later, I heard that the school's principal was most impressed with the kids behavior, and was kind of jealous of the laptops. In short, I'm proud of our school for not being wimpy about trying such a laptop program, that might create new problems. The old problems have gone away, and yes, there are new problems, but those problems can be solved. Kids rise to the expectations you give them, as they certainly did on this day.

Finally it was time for the other ensemble. We went to the gym to unpack and get equipment, and then to the band room to warm up. The kids were nervous, especially after hearing some of the other excellent ensembles, but they played very well on that lovely stage. We played our three songs and then a different adjudicator, a gentleman from outside the valley, came to work with the kids. Again, he was extremely nice and helped them see how simple things could improve their sound and performance dramatically.

While I was watching him work with my students, Tom, my mentor (who was also one of the adjudicators), came up on stage and whispered in my ear, "I'm so proud of you. Those kids have come so far, and I can tell how hard you've worked." Coming from him, an experienced band teacher with the education and years of experience to give him the best credentials, it was high praise indeed. I had to fight back my tears.

When we were done there was not much left to do except pack up, get on the bus, and go back home. On the way home I confess I talked another teacher's ear off, but she was very receptive and sympathetic. I have no idea now what I said. I hope it was intelligent, because I was riding high on a wave of excitement for so many reasons. The day far exceeded my expectations.

The only thing that kept the day from being perfect was the 6th grade score. The judges assign points for various aspects of the performance according to a chart, added them up. The three scores were averaged to produce the final score, and wherever the score fell, that was our number--I, II, III, and so on up to V--with a I being Superior, a II Excellent, and a III Good. I'm sure V means, "why did you even bother showing up, you losers?" My middle-high school band received a solid II. The 6th graders were .3 of a point away from the II score. Their official score was a III.

I spent a lot of time in the next couple of days poring over the score sheets to find out why, but everything was speculation--I can't possibly get inside the judge's heads, I had to just go by what was on the sheet. It was frustrating to think we were so close. I tried hard not to let it bring down the rest of the superb day.

I bought the kids ice cream the next day as a reward and so they could blow off steam before I put pressure on them for the Solo & Ensemble Festival. Between the sixty kids and various teachers I went through six gallons of ice cream, but they could easily have eaten twice that.