Oscoda Area Schools

The Oscoda Middle School Seventh and Eighth Grade the Evengelical Free Church on Wednesday, April 29 to participate in the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) State Band and Orchestra Festival. They qualified for this opportunity by earning a Division I rating and District Band Festival on March 4 at the University of Michigan Flint.

This festival was established by MSBOA in the 1930’s as a method for school bands and orchestras to be evaluated by independent and expert adjudicators on a statewide standard.  Participating bands can earn the following ratings: Division I (Superior), Division II (Excellent), Division III (Good), Division IV (Fair) or Division V (Poor) and are evaluated in the areas of Tone, Intonation, Rhythm, Technique and Interpretation. The OMS Seventh and Eighth Grade Band 11 A’s and 4 B’s in these five captions from the three judges.

At this state-level event, bands perform two prepared pieces and receive a clinic onstage from an outstanding instrumental educator.  The clinician for the OMS Seventh and Eighth Grade Band was Mr. Joel Shaner, retired band director from Jackson High School who offered many suggestions about different musical concepts and interpretive decisions that ensembles can make.  He worked with them, implementing some of these ideas and getting these young musicians to think about more than just the music on the page.

The band performed "Night Fury” by Carol Brittin Chambers and "Anasazi" by John Edmondson.  Some of the comments from the judges included: “Tone is developing nicely for a young group,” and “The foundation for musicality and artistry are well established.!”