VOLUME 16, ISSUE 8

JUNE 2022

MLWGS Band Makes History

By Luna Forlano

Photo: Albert Tang / The MLWGS band at a March concert.

On March 19, 2022, Maggie Walker’s Advanced and Intermediate Bands came together to participate in the first ever state concert band assessment in the school’s history, marking a major step forward in the growth of the band program. The students worked hard for this accomplishment, and they even received the rating superior—the highest recognition—from all judges in all categories. Throughout the year, the band has continued to grow to reach the highest levels of excellence. 

In 2018, Maggie Walker’s current band director, Mr. Merillat, was hired. At that point in time, the band consisted of two separate classes and 27 students in total, a small number compared to the program today. The number of band students has been increasing, and the band program expects to have around 65 students next year. “Students are really seeing the direction the program is going, and that we are really pushing the program to be just as good as any other program in our vicinity,” said Merillat. Merillat and Maggie Walker’s two other music directors, Ms. Michelle Graham and Ms. Allison Barnes, want to make sure that when students attend Maggie Walker, they are not sacrificing their musical opportunities. Freshman Lily Stemhagen, a percussion player, said, “It felt like a big step up from my middle school and to do so well in the assessment was very exciting.”

Attending the state assessment for the band was one of Merillat’s long-term goals, but in order to meet that goal, they needed a concert band with enough students. Merillat mentioned that the band could have participated in the assessment last year, but due to COVID-19, the event was canceled. Participating this year was a large success.

For this important event, students began to prepare after winter break. From the beginning of January to the middle of March, the Advanced Band and Intermediate Bands practiced hard. The bands were combined for the assessment, and because of this, three weeks before the assessment, they had weekly, two-hour practices. “It was cool to hear the two bands come together because we would practice separately and only hear part of it, but when you combined, you would hear the whole sound,” added Stemhagen. 

Another important acceptance of preparation was the band pre-assessment. “A pre-assessment is when you invite directors from the region who have served as judges for real assessment in the past to adjudicate you two weeks before the real assessment,” Merillat mentioned. This year, the band turned the March Youth Art and Music Month concert into their pre-assessment. Paul Rozecki, band director for Atlee High School, was the judge for the pre-assessment. He judged them exactly as if they were at an assessment, and later held a clinic for the band students to further improve their skills. “The pre-assessment was very helpful because we got all our nerves out before the actual event,” said Stemhagen.

After all the practicing and preparing, assessment day finally came. The hard work paid off, and the band received superior ratings– a major accomplishment! “In the end, it is not all about the scores, and the fact that we were going there at all was amazing,” Merillat said. “I was already happy about whatever was going to happen, because our school has never gone to an assessment. It was a historic moment.”