Over the weekend of May 2-3, the Quantico Middle/High School advanced band participated in the Music in the Parks festival in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Thirty students participated, along with band director and music teacher Laurie Settle, and the group took first place in the small-schools division, receiving a rating of "excellent" from the judges.
The band performed in front of two judges who rated their performance. They played Honor Roll March composed by Ken Harris, Cimarron Trail composed by David Shaffer and Oak Park Overture composed by David Gorham. After they played, the students had free time at Chocolate World and in the amusement park before the awards presentation on Sunday.
The advanced band consists of two classes of students in grades 8-12. They meet every other day in class and learn their individual parts, and then both classes come together after school for extra practice in advance of performances.
Settle praised her students’ behavior at the event, saying, "I’m just always so proud of them. They showed great sportsmanship." Settle said that after every other group’s performance, her students would stand and applaud.
For tenor saxophone player Niklas, 16, this was his fourth competition. "I thought we did really well. A lot of other schools were really big and had more room for error. We don’t have room for error, and for a small band, we had really nice sound." Niklas is multi-talented, and when he has the opportunity, he also enjoys playing the piano for the band, though he’s not the only one who does.
Haven, 16 and currently a trumpet player for the band, also plays piano, along with guitar, ukulele, dulcimer and "other instruments you’ve never heard of," she said.
Senior Meghan Jones, 18, a flutist, enjoyed the competition and the travel. Jones has a unique interest in addition to music: she’s a private first class in the Army National Guard. Jones joined the Guard at 17, while a junior in high school. After she graduates, she will attend additional training before beginning college at George Mason. She said she wants to continue playing the flute in college.
Settle is an enthusiastic educator who shares her passion for music with her students. She holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music and has been a musician herself since she was in fifth grade. While she said she can play many instruments, her favorites are clarinet, flute and saxophone.
Though the band worked hard and played hard over the weekend, they were back at practice on Monday morning, learning a new piece of music: Pomp and Circumstance for the QMHS graduation June 5.