Blair hosts Maryland Music Educators MBDA/MODA District II Band Festival

The Maryland Music Educators MBDA/MODA District II Band Festival was held at Blair on March 13.

The festival is one of 17 festivals sponsored by the Montgomery County Public Schools Arts Education Unit. This program is designed to supply specific information for students and teachers on how to further improve the performance of each school music ensemble.

During the festival, each school group performs three select pieces for judges to critique and rate. After their performance for the judges, the group goes into another room for a sight reading evaluation.

Blair was chosen as one of the five sites to host the festival because of its auditorium. "Blair has a nice facility," said Blair music director, Kurt Lucas.

The festival started at 8:30 and ended at 3:30, after the performance of Blair's symphonic band. According to Lucas, one of the school's "rewards" for hosting the festival is being able to stay and perform for the festival without needing to travel to another site. Blair performed "Salvation is Created" by Tschesnokoff and Houseknecht, "First Suite in E Flat" by Gustav Holst, and "Chorale and Shaker Dance" by John Zdechlik.

Twelve middle school groups were scheduled to go before Blair's band. These schools included Silver Spring International, North Bethesda, Julius West, Takoma Park, Eastern, Montgomery Village, Westland, Tilden, Herbert Hoover, Robert Frost, Thomas W. Pyle, and Cabin John middle schools.

The first school to host the festival this year was Wheaton High school, on March 12. There will be three more days of the festival. They will be held at Damascus, Walt Whitman, and Colonel Zadok Magruder high schools on March 14, 20, and 21 respectively.