Revere wind ensemble scored a one and Revere symphonic band received some positive comments and some criticism on tone and balance at their first adjudicated concert in two years.

Revere returned to competing at adjudicated concerts on March 5th 2022. For the band’s comeback, Darren Lebeau, the Band Director, chose three pieces for each band to perform. 

“We always choose a march, one of the three pieces has to be off a special list given by the music association. To be in a strict class, you have to pick one of these, and the last one, it’s either your choice, or you can pick from the same list, or an easier list,” Lebeau said.

He then explained his process for selecting music this year specifically.

“This year we played music that highlighted a lot of soloists, so the song had a trumpet solo, a horn solo, a flute solo, a clarinet solo, a [indistinguishable] solo, and a euphonium solo,” Lebeau said.

He ended up choosing “Canto,” “Silver Jubilee” and “Allied Honor” for the symphonic band and “Host of Freedom,” “Irish Rhapsody” and “Oracles of the Sirocco” for the wind ensemble.

“I usually do a march because I love marches, and all three pieces usually highlight whichever section is the strongest, so if we have great trumpets, we do songs that feature trumpets. If we have an awesome low brass, we’re going to play a low brass song,” Lebeau said.

After that, the band would rehearse for nine weeks before entering the competition. The wind ensemble performed for a rating, while the symphonic band opted for festival class.

“Because the students in the symphonic band—probably 80% of them—have never been to a concert before because last year was canceled due to COVID, only the juniors and seniors [have done it before] and there’s not as many in that group. So we wanted to just go through the motions, you know, learn the three pieces, play the best we can play, and go up and hear what it is. So I didn’t want to pressure them and push them to get a grade when it’s still new to them,” Lebeau said.

Eli Lee, a freshman clarinet player, recounted their performance.

“Most of [the judges’ comments] were about tone and balance, making sure those are better,” Lee said.

This refers to the volume distribution of different instruments; some were much louder than others.

“[Stage fright] wasn’t too bad, probably because we already went through competitions for marching band,” Lee said.

Molly Gilreath, a senior in the wind ensemble who has played the trumpet since fifth grade, explained her experience going back on stage for the first time since her sophomore year.

“I’ve always gotten nervous going to any band event, but it’s very fun so it’s worth it.” Gilreath said.

Band competitions are beloved by the performers and Revere’s return to them was a happy day.

“It’s just exciting because it’s that moment leading up to it where you’re nervous and then once it’s all done you’re like ‘hey look, we did that, and we did that together’ and you feel pretty good about it,” Gilreath said.