Tiverton High School Musicians Sail to Burmuda

Tiverton High School’s musicians return from Hamilton, Bermudawhere they competed in their annual national adjudication and competition via Royal Caribbean CruiseLine’s “Explorer of the Seas” vessel.

This national music festival, hosted by Cruise Festivals, featured four school districts and nine different high school level ensembles. The ensembles performed before panels of nationally acclaimed, university level adjudicators and clinicians.

The marching, concert and jazz bands, all under the direction of Mike Alves, were awarded to phonors in each of their respective divisions with all receiving ratings of Superior in the Class “A” high school performance category. This is the second consecutive year that the band program has earnedthree Superior ratings. The Marching Band set the wheels in motion on day one earning an average scoreof 76.5 out of a possible 80 points with a very solid performance. This portion of the competition washeld at Port Liberty in Bayonne, NJ prior to the actual cruise.

“The conditions were pretty tough,"  said Alves. The low temperature and the wind make it difficult to stay in tune and can hinder the overall timing of the group. I was very proud of the kid’s ability to focus under these tough conditions. They really handled the situation well.

”Tiverton also was awarded two specialty awards in the marching division," said Alves. Junior Cooper Pallasch earned an award for outstanding soloist and the ensemble’s drumline, lead bysenior captain Andrew Bonoan, took home the outstanding sectional award.

The first performance day onboard the ship featured the High School Jazz Ensemble Division.After their recent outstanding third place finish at the Berklee Jazz Festival last month in Boston,Tiverton’s Jazz Ensemble kept the “positive mojo” flowing earning a 95.5 out of a possible 100 pointsto capture their second Superior rating of the festival. Tiverton’s perfect scores in the areas of literature,interpretation and overall ensemble technique helped them achieve this unusually high total. “It’s verydifficult to ace any of the adjudication sub-categories. The jazz ensemble features some of our topplayers in the program. It was great to hear them play so well at our final adjudication. It really wastheir best performance of the year,” explained Alves. Tiverton’s Jazz Ensemble also grabbed a few morespecialty awards in the jazz division. Juniors Sarah Leonard on soprano saxophone and Cooper Pallaschon trumpet were awarded outstanding soloist honors and freshman John Bonoan on bass guitar earned anaward for overall outstanding musicianship.

After two days at sea, the ship docked in Bermuda where all could enjoy a bit of “R and R”. Whilein port, all of the students were able to partake in offshore excursions, additional pool time, extensiveonboard activities such as shows and specialty performances hosted by the ship’s entertainment staff, aswell as the typical extraordinary dining experiences and unlimited food options associated with the cruise.

On day five it was back to business with the Concert and Symphonic Band division. Tiverton’sConcert Band performed wonderfully earning perfect scores in the areas of ensemble balance, literatureand overall ensemble technique similarly to the Jazz Ensemble. After their performance, worldrenowned musician, composer and clinician Jerry Nowak personally gave them a verbal critique of theirperformance. “It’s very rare to see an adjudicator of Mr. Nowak’s caliber at one of these festivals letalone have him speak to the ensemble personally. He had some excellent suggestions and comments forthe group. It truly was a great honor for the kids to meet him and listen to his perception and critiqueof their performance,” said Alves. The concert band earned two outstanding section awards for thewoodwind section, lead by section leaders Chelsea Bouchard/Flute, Maya Bergandy/Clarinet and SarahLeonard/Alto Saxophone, and the brass section, lead by senior Dan Dumont on trombone and the seniortuba dynamic duo of Dylan Clement and Tom O’Hara. Tiverton also earned several specialty awards inthis division as well including outstanding soloist honors for junior Chelsea Bouchard on piccolo, SarahLeonard on soprano saxophone and Cooper Pallasch on trumpet. Cooper Pallasch was the lone three time special award winner of the entire festival.

“On this type of trip, it’s very difficult to achieve any type of success because of the fact that thestudents have to focus then relax then re-focus on the task at hand; most adults have difficulty doing thatnever mind a bunch of high school band kids," said Alves. "We talk extensively about the concept of 'Work Firstand Play Later,' and I’m glad to see the kids turn those words into reality and not have that concept be asimple cliché. I’m extremely proud of the way they (the students) handled themselves both musically andprofessionally on this trip and I’m genuinely happy for all of my students and their accomplishments thisseason,” Alves concluded.

Be sure to catch all of Tiverton High’s Performing Arts Ensembles on Wednesday, May 15th at thenewly renovated Tiverton High School auditorium for their annual spring concert. Also, look for the Tiger Marching Band at the upcoming Memorial Day Parade in Fall River, MA on Monday, May 27.