With the academic year coming to a close, Salem marching band director Gannon Craig and students celebrate the end of a successful season, with several students performing and placing at the MSHSAA State Music Festival, and the band earning an overall exemplary rating at its evaluative performance April 25.
All are invited to attend and see students perform at the spring band concert May 13 (today) at the Salem High School Gym from 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Entrance is free.
Students completed their evaluative performance at the Salem R-80 High School. Due to spring break falling around the same time as the MSHSAA (Missouri State High School Activities Association) evaluative performances, the students were going to be evaluated in St. James—the event in St. James, however, ended up being canceled. After receiving the news of cancelation, staff put their heads together and decided to do an evaluative performance in-house.
Although the performance wasn’t a MSHSAA-sanctioned performance, shared Craig, it still featured three trained adjudicators who were invited to complete the evaluation. The three were not only trained adjudicators but also retired band directors, including Jim Cunningham, Wentzville; Keith Reuther, Lebanon; and Linda Huck, Farmington. The students each received an exemplary rating, the highest they can receive. After their performance, students were given the opportunity to work directly with adjudicators for about 10 minutes each and receive feedback on their pieces.
“Back in the day, those [exemplary ratings] used to be ones, and so that totaled out to getting a one or an exemplary in total for the band, which is really, really cool,” shared Craig.
Back on March 8, meanwhile, several students participated in the MSHSAA District Solo & Small Ensemble Festival (S&SE) performing music they prepared in addition to concert band music. S&SE participants prepare this music outside of class, and before and after school with their directors in private lessons. The additional work provides an unparalleled opportunity for growth as musicians, said Craig.
The four soloists that received “exemplary” during the performance were able to progress to the state S&SE festival Saturday, May 3.
Those high school band musicians performed at the MSHSAA State Music Festival, earning ratings for solos. Students earning gold included Addison Barton, bass clarinet and Mason Tomnitz, euphonium; Xander During earned silver for his performance playing soprano clarinet; and Knox Smith, baritone saxophone, earned bronze.
Craig shared that no matter what the results are for these festivals or evaluative performances, he always encourages his students to feel accomplished. Receiving the gold or an exemplary rating isn’t the goal—it’s to improve and to feel that they have grown from the experience.
“At a state festival, you can get a judge that is little bit more of a stickler than other judges,” said Craig. “We had one of those, but we still had really good results.”
This year’s accomplishments for marching band include making it to finals at Reed Springs with fourth in class, a longtime goal for both students and director Craig. Meanwhile, Craig shared how proud he was of the concert band for working so hard over the semester with a concert planned on Tuesday, May 13 (today). Students had an incredible rehearsal recently where they played college-level music.
This week, band will be losing one of its students to graduation with one senior, Xander During. During is shooting for the big stages in his future, shared Craig, with plans to attend college for a double major in music performance and music education, with even further plans to get a master’s in performance, and even potentially a doctorate in performance. Craig and other staff members are enormously proud of During for his efforts over the past four years.
