I’m a proud member of the band at Wickford Middle School. I play in the percussion group along with 8 other students – including 7th and 8th graders – under the leadership of my music teacher, Mr. Iadevaia. We have been practicing extra hard these past few weeks in preparation for the RIMEA Band Festival. That festival took place at the North Kingstown High School last Thursday, April 2 and here are the details.
There were 13 bands invited to the RIMEA Band Festival from all over the state of RI. Six bands, including Wickford Middle School, participated in the morning competition. The seven remaining bands all competed in the afternoon competition. Each band played a total of 3 songs – 1 warmup song and 2 songs that were to be judged. The judges rated the performers on a number of criteria, some of which included: timing and precision, playing together as an ensemble, dynamics of the song, just to name a few.
My school got to play first. We played our warmup and then our two songs – “Yorkshire Ballad” and “Adrenaline Engines.” I thought we sounded really good and all of the practice really helped get us on the same page. After watching a few of the other schools, we returned back to WMS. Later on that day, during music class, a teacher informed us that we received a superior rating at the Band Festival. That felt great and we were really psyched, especially for Mr. I.
My next festival I will be attending is for the Wickford Middle School Jazz Band at Moses Brown School on May 2nd.
The Rhiter 
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