Every year, Choir and Band engage in the Music Performance Assessment Festival. Called ‘Festival’ for short, schools from all over come to get their musical program’s groups gauged on their skill levels by judges.
This year, and for many years before this, band got a ‘Superior’ rating at Festival, which is the best score you can get.
“We have received Superior ratings at Music Performance Assessments every year since 2009,” Band teacher Mr. John Fabela said. “As an educator, this was my 38th consecutive year that my bands have received Superior ratings.”
Mr. Fabela has taught at PHS for 17 years and has gained a Superior rating every year he’s been here. He’s even been getting these ratings since before he worked here.
“It is very difficult to earn a Superior rating,” Mr. Fabela said. “Judges have been trained to listen and watch for the smallest details in each performance… Not all bands that performed at our District Music Performance Assessment received a Superior rating. So yes, it is difficult to earn a Superior rating…”
Judges are extremely picky at Festival, so it’s rare to get a superior rating. By looking at everything from correct notes to even posture, the judges determine who they deem the best. A band must be truly superior to earn that rating.
“…We had three songs, and we worked them for a couple months,” senior Jenessa Polson said. “ That’s a lot of teeny, tiny, nit-picky details. In order to bring a piece together, you have to be very detail-oriented.”
While preparing for Festival, the band practiced for a long time on their songs- almost three months. The saying ‘practice makes perfect’ was true for band, and though grueling and tiring, they did get their perfect score.
While practicing their songs and not leaving a crumb behind, Fabela did what he is known to do, make sure everyone is paying attention and practicing hard.
“[The award is] pretty nice- I’m glad we got it,” Kousoulos said. “I’m glad we didn’t break Mr. Fabela’s streak; that’s another thing that kept us going as well. We didn’t want to be the class to break it.”
One of the band’s motivators for continuing to try hard was not being the class that broke Fabela’s streak. The band takes pride in being able to achieve this amazing achievement for many years in a row, and they’re very proud of their ability to keep this goodness going.
“We’ve never not gotten a superior,” Polson said. “Even so, there’s kind of an unspoken standard that we all want to meet. It does take a lot of work to get there, not every band gets a superior rating.”
Even though band has never had anything other than a superior rating while Mr. Fabela has been around, band kids don’t take that for granted. It’s how they continue to grow and get better over the years.
This being the 17th year in a row that Powell High School’s band has gotten a superior rating at Festival is an awe to behold. With how difficult it is to even get a couple of years in a row, this is a feat. Band, with the help of Mr. Fabela, will continue to grow and build their streak, hopefully for years to come, bringing more and more stars to our lovely school.
