Center stage for Centennial band
High school musicians will go to the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the largest international band and orchestra conference in the world
Some musicians in the Centennial High School Wind Ensemble screamed and others cried when they got the news, spurring one student to post a video of the chaotic scene unfolding in the band room.
The Ellicott City school’s director of bands, David Matchim, had just told them they’d been invited to perform Dec. 20 at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the largest international band and orchestra conference in the world. A joyful roar, loud cheers and a sea of stunned faces greeted Matchim’s intentionally low-key reveal.
The first high school band from Maryland to be selected to perform since 1973 — and one of only five high schools accepted this year — the ensemble has since received congratulatory notes from Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Director Marin Alsop and Gov. Larry Hogan, among others.
Phrases such as “impressive feat” and “unparalleled success” pepper their letters of praise.
“Many people don’t realize what a big deal this is,” Matchim said of the Midwest Clinic, which was founded in 1946. “For a band, it’s like winning the Super Bowl.”
Of the four other high school bands selected, three are from Texas and one hails from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the scene of a deadly mass shooting in February.
Matchim, a native of Canada who lives in Oella, said he views his student musicians as ambassadors representing Maryland, not just Centennial or Howard County.
“We will be wearing Maryland bowties along with scarves that parents sewed for us to demonstrate our state pride,” he said.
The CHS Wind Ensemble is scheduled to present an hour-long program consisting of 10 selections on Thursday morning in the Skyline Ballroom of the McCormick Place Convention Center.
“Carmen Fantaisie for Flute and Band” will feature soloist and 2016 Centennial alumna Lisa Choi, who is studying flute performance at the Juilliard School in New York. Harlan Parker, wind ensemble director at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, will serve as guest conductor on “Hold This Boy and Listen.”
“By the Sword,” a composition by Brian Drake, a band teacher at Patapsco Middle School in Ellicott City, will also be performed.
This was the first year Matchim — who came to Centennial in 2011 at age 27 — applied to the renowned music conference that attracts 17,000 attendees from the U.S. and 30 countries each year.
He said colleagues persuaded him to enter while at the same time cautioning that bands almost never make the cut on their first try.
“I had this ‘aha’ moment,” he recalled of deciding to take part in the rigorous audition process. “All the stars aligned, and we were just clicking musically and blowing people away” with our performances, he said, convincing him the time was right.
Parker said Matchim, whom he taught at
The Ellicott City school’s director of bands, David Matchim, had just told them they’d been invited to perform Dec. 20 at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the largest international band and orchestra conference in the world. A joyful roar, loud cheers and a sea of stunned faces greeted Matchim’s intentionally low-key reveal.
The first high school band from Maryland to be selected to perform since 1973 — and one of only five high schools accepted this year — the ensemble has since received congratulatory notes from Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Director Marin Alsop and Gov. Larry Hogan, among others.
Phrases such as “impressive feat” and “unparalleled success” pepper their letters of praise.
“Many people don’t realize what a big deal this is,” Matchim said of the Midwest Clinic, which was founded in 1946. “For a band, it’s like winning the Super Bowl.”
Of the four other high school bands selected, three are from Texas and one hails from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the scene of a deadly mass shooting in February.
Matchim, a native of Canada who lives in Oella, said he views his student musicians as ambassadors representing Maryland, not just Centennial or Howard County.
“We will be wearing Maryland bowties along with scarves that parents sewed for us to demonstrate our state pride,” he said.
The CHS Wind Ensemble is scheduled to present an hour-long program consisting of 10 selections on Thursday morning in the Skyline Ballroom of the McCormick Place Convention Center.
“Carmen Fantaisie for Flute and Band” will feature soloist and 2016 Centennial alumna Lisa Choi, who is studying flute performance at the Juilliard School in New York. Harlan Parker, wind ensemble director at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, will serve as guest conductor on “Hold This Boy and Listen.”
“By the Sword,” a composition by Brian Drake, a band teacher at Patapsco Middle School in Ellicott City, will also be performed.
This was the first year Matchim — who came to Centennial in 2011 at age 27 — applied to the renowned music conference that attracts 17,000 attendees from the U.S. and 30 countries each year.
He said colleagues persuaded him to enter while at the same time cautioning that bands almost never make the cut on their first try.
“I had this ‘aha’ moment,” he recalled of deciding to take part in the rigorous audition process. “All the stars aligned, and we were just clicking musically and blowing people away” with our performances, he said, convincing him the time was right.
Parker said Matchim, whom he taught at
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