Niwot Band attends CBA festival

On Wednesday March 6, 2024, the Niwot High School Advanced Symphonic Band attended the Colorado Bandmasters Association (CBA) festival at Fort Collins High School. The CBA is made up of active and retired band directors in Colorado.

One of the primary purposes of the CBA is to host events for band students of all levels and ages throughout the year, including marching band competitions in the fall, All-State Band and All-State Jazz Band events throughout winter and spring, and middle-high school concert band festivals.

This is Niwot's fourth year attending the festival. Bands may select two or three pieces to perform (at the band director's discretion) in front of a panel of judges, who are notable music directors or professors in Colorado. The ensembles are then given the opportunity to receive feedback and work with a professional clinician. Niwot's band received a score of "excellent" for their performance this year.

Additionally, each band is required to listen to at least two other ensembles from the audience perspective. Wade Hendricks, Director of Bands at NHS, said that even though it is required to participate in the audience, "It's so fun seeing and hearing other bands perform as well as seeing our band's reaction to other school's performances."

Niwot prepared three songs this year for CBA, "Peace Jubilee" (a march by Karl King), "Seal Lullaby" (a ballad originally composed for acapella choir by Eric Whitacre and later adapted for band), and "Arabesque" (a technically challenging piece by Samuel Hazo and most students' favorite of the three). Students have been hard at work since January in preparation for this festival as well as the "Almost Spring" concert on March 7, the day after CBA. In that time, several area musicians helped work with and coach students and offered new perspectives during rehearsals.

"I am very proud of all of the Niwot musicians for their attention, focus, and excellent behavior on the trip," Hendricks said. "We played with musicality and a little risk-taking" which is what he said led to the band's "excellent" ranking at the festival.

The excitement did not stop there for the Niwot Band musicians, as they held their "Almost Spring" concert the next day at Niwot High School where they performed "Seal Lullaby" and "Arabesque" for their local audience. In addition, the Percussion Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Advanced Symphonic Band, and the Combined Band (consisting of Symphonic and Advanced Symphonic ensembles) performed.

This concert provided the opportunity to demonstrate their hard work for the CBA festival, and to showcase other songs they have been working on across all ensembles. The concert also gave friends and family an opportunity to hear some of the tunes that will be performed by the band in Disney World over Spring Break on March 17.