The Fair Grove Concert Band and the Choir both attended State at Camdenton High School during the same week to show off their hard work and dedication to the music programs. On March 19th, the FGHS Concert Band attended State after returning to school only one day after spring break. The Choir attend State Large Ensemble on March 21st.

The band and the choir go through the same processes at State. They arrive at the school and then warm up in the warm up area. They then proceed to make their way to the auditorium and perform their selected songs for judges. The judges will then rate them on a scale of one to five, one being the highest rating. The order of the ratings from one to five are exemplary (1), outstanding (2), satisfactory (3), developing (4), and ineffective (5).

After they play/sing their songs they then make their way to the band room to sight read. During their sight reading activity, they are given a piece of music they have never seen and attempt to play/sing the music to the best of their ability.  The accompanist will play a scale and the students will then go through the given music for the first time without any help from their director. They are then given a final time to fully play through the given sheet music to show how well the choir and band are aware of reading music and comprehending music quickly without any to little help. After they go through the whole process, they then wait for their results. They are judged according to the same system as their selected music. The judges sheets from the floor is averaged with the sight reading judges sheet and generates their overall score.

The band received two 1 ratings and a 2 rating on the floor, and in sight reading they received a 2 rating. This pulled up their rating to a 1 overall. Mitch Van Cleave (10) stated, “Overall it was a pretty good experience! It was nice for everything to all pay off!”

The choir attended state and received a 3 rating across the floor and a 2 rating in sight reading. Harley Maxwell (12) said, “It was bittersweet being the last time I go to choir state and it wasn’t what we expected, but we had a good time as a choir and we did good in sight reading!”