On Saturday, February 20th, Nazareth Academy’s band program went to perform at Marian Catholic High School. Located in Chicago Heights, the band played against 20 different groups and faced a total of 12 different schools.

The competition had 3 judges: Dr. Daniel Farris from Northwestern University, Dr. Peter Griffin from Elmhurst College, and Dr. Joshua Thompson from St. Xavier University. Mike Sliwinski, Nazareth’s Director of Bands, explained how the competition works stating,  “The way it goes, each band prepares two pieces. The first piece is always a march and a bigger piece which is judged more closely. That’s the piece you really work on. Every band played something different.”

In order to win, the average of the three judge’s scores is taken and determined by the class of difficulty. Single A is easier music, Double A is medium difficulty music, and Triple A is the most difficult level.

Sliwinski stated that “the concert band, the younger group, they placed third place out of 10 bands in Single A. Then, the top group, this was the first time they’ve gone up to Triple A since 2011 and the first time they’ve placed in Triple A since 2004. They got third place.”

Sliwinski also said that the “Wind Ensemble, the top group is performing Saturday at Lemont High School at 9:30. That’s against a lot of the public schools.”

The band has enjoyed many successes in its first year under new director, Mr. Sliwinski, and looks forward to more success in the future.