The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Bands host area competition
Middle School invited to state band festival
By Alana West, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: March 6, 2008
For the second straight year, Manchester High School hosted the annual Michigan School Band and Orchestra Division VIII Band Festival Feb. 29.
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Last year, a dozen bands from neighboring districts performed at the festival. This year, the number of school districts participating in the event was almost double.
Because of the support from the community and visiting schools, Manchester Band directors Edward Schoendorff and Jared Throneberry, who planned and coordinated the event during both years, are considering hosting the festival again next year.
"I wouldn't mind hosting it again," Throneberry said. "We put our bid in again to host next year. Every parent and student who attended said this was the nicest site they had ever been to."
During the two-day event, middle school band students from 23 schools were brought together to challenge their musical abilities.
The festival is not a competition in the traditional sense. It allows each school band the opportunity to play selected pieces for an adjudicator, who then provides comments and insights and a professional opinion of the band's performance.
Ratings for each band are posted following the performances, with "firsts" being the highest rating. All bands have the same opportunity to achieve the highest rating.
The Manchester High School Band, under the direction of Throneberry, was the only high school band to participate at the festival, and received solid scores for their performance and sight-reading abilities.
The seventh and eighth grade musicians, under the direction of Schoendorff, received the highest ratings (all firsts) at the band festival. Two other middle schools, East Jackson and Brooklyn's Columbia Central, also achieved the high rating.
Schoendorff said that ratings are not his main goal when he selects music for the event, however he was very pleased with the results.
"I want to focus on creating music," Schoendorff said.
Schoendorff said he is proud of his students and "the finer points they are achieving through their enthusiasm and practice."
"If you don't acknowledge (good work), it disappears," he said. "You need to keep what is good. Keep the emphasis on doing well."
Because of their rating, seventh and eighth grade band students are eligible to attend the State Band Festival to be held later this spring. Schoendorff said he is planning to attend if each of his students commits to attend the event.
This year, several community volunteers helped with the organizing and planning of the event with Band Booster President Stephanie Beuerle and Michelle Lance leading the way, Schoendorff said.
"The parents made everything fabulous," resident Suzanne Schoendorff said.
Schoendorff said she was impressed how many of the parent volunteers didn't have students in band, but chose to support the event anyway.
Alana West is a freelance reporter for The Manchester Enterprise. She can be reached at mmagwest@sbcglobal.net.
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