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Sperry High School Band Receives Highest Honor in School's History
Bottom Row 1: Donald Garrison, Ashley Sutherland, Chalee Taylor, Persphone Hembree, Kyla Walters, and Ivey Yardley
Row 2: Alexander Marquez, Xzavier Ford, Alicia Brackett, Kelli Garison, Jared Lytle, and Tyler Ducharme
Row 3: Nathan Torix,
Row 4: Nathan Weldon, Joshua Sutherland, Robert Webb, Parker Hutchins-Cate, Saige Clark, Jeffery Chase, and Ms. Morris
Row 5: Donny Forgione, Ethan Brown, Samantha McMurry, and Tucker Smith
The Sperry High School Band made history recently by earning the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association 2016 Sweepstakes Award and State Band Championship. This is the first time in school history that the band has earned such a distinction. The band is under the leadership of Director Gretchen Morris and Assistant Director Alane King.
Earning a Sweepstakes Award requires Superior Ratings at Regional Marching Contest, Superior Ratings in both Concert and Sight Reading at District Contest, and Superior Ratings in Concert and Sight Reading at State Contest. A Superior is the highest rating and denotes a performance that is outstanding in every detail. In Oklahoma, bands are divided into classifications by school enrollment. Sperry is in Class 3A. There are 128 Class 3A bands. Of those, only 24 qualified for State, and, of those, only 7 earned the Sweepstakes Award.
The band’s journey began in October with Regional Marching Contest at Skiatook. The state is divided into four regions for this contest. District Band Contest was held in early March. There are 14 districts. Sperry’s District was held at Bartlesville. State Band Contest was held April 18-20 on the campus of East Central University in Ada. The Sperry band performed on April 18. Mayor of the Town of Sperry Bill Butler declared April 18, 2016 to be “Sperry High School Band Day,” in recognition of the band’s achievements.
District and State Contests have two components: concert and sight reading. For the concert portion, each band plays two selections, one of which must come from a prescribed music list, in front of a panel of judges who consider the following criteria: tone quality, intonation, rhythm, balance and blend, technique, interpretation, musicianship, musical effect, articulation, and other performance factors. Sight reading refers to playing a new piece of music at sight, having never played or rehearsed it before. The sight reading portion consists of two subsections: preparation and performance. For the preparation period, judges consider the director’s explanation, student involvement, and rhythmic and melodic approach. During this part, the band gets eight minutes to study a brand-new piece of music they’ve never seen before. A band can use this eight minutes to study, count, sing, and do fingerings, but no playing is allowed. For the performance, judges consider all of the same factors as during the concert portion, but also consider flexibility, attention to melodic and harmonic lines, and error recovery.
Bands must earn Superior Ratings at District to advance to State. In order to achieve a Sweepstakes, they not only must earn Superior Ratings in both concert and sight reading at State, but they must also have earned Superior Ratings at Regional Marching, which is part of what makes the accomplishment so challenging. It is literally a year-long process. This is the first OSSAA Sweepstakes distinction for Director Gretchen Morris, who has taught 18 years, Assistant Director Alane King, who has taught 36 years, and for the Sperry High School Band.
The band received five plaques: one for Superior Rating at Regional Marching, one for Superior Rating in Concert Contest at State, one for Superior Rating in Sight Reading at State, the Sweepstakes Plaque, and a special Band Director Sweepstakes award.
In preparation for each phase of this process, Sperry High School Band participated in other contests including a pre-regional marching contest at Verdigris and a pre-district concert contest at Wagoner. The band earned all Superior Ratings at these contests, as well.
Sperry Band members who performed at State Contest are: Chalee Taylor, Persephone Hembree, Ashley Sutherland, and Kyla Walters, flute; Kelli Garrison, Jared Lytle, and Ivey Yardley, clarinet; Alicia Brackett and Xzavier Ford, alto saxophone; Parker Hutchins-Cates, Josh Sutherland, Robert Webb, Tyler Ducharme, and Saige Clark, trumpet; Jeffery Chase, trombone; Ethan Brown and Samantha McMurray, euphonium; Tucker Smith, tuba; Nathan Weldon, Donny Forgione, Nathan Torix, Alexander Martin, and Donald Garrison, percussion.
