Cleveland band wins state concert contest

RIO RANCHO — For the second time in three years, the Cleveland High School wind symphony is a state champion; CHS also won in 2022.

The Class 5A Concert Band Contest was held April 18-20 the CHS Concert Hall. There were 10 contestants in the 5A division, with Cleveland performing ninth on April 19.

The New Mexico Activities Association’s Concert Band Contest, in partnership with the New Mexico Music Educators Association, was initiated to provide an opportunity for high school bands and middle school bands to participate in a statewide band festival with the intent of bringing together New Mexico’s best bands in competition. State Concert Band Contest participants competed in middle school, A-3A, 4A and 5A divisions.

Director Daniel Holmes, at Cleveland High School since 2017 and assisted by Joshua Dumais, led the approximate 50 band members through three compositions: “Festivo” by Edward Gregson; “Perthshire Majesty” by Samuel Hazo; and “Kaleidoscope Eyes” by Katahj Copley.

“Yeah, they had a great performance,” he said of the competition, noting he had a feeling it could be successful.

“Warming up in the band room for the state, we touched a little bit of each piece,” he said. “They just had an incredible warmup. We had a sense that it was going to be a very special performance, just from their warmups, from their first few notes — getting ready for their state performance, the group was locked in and focused.

“We had an idea that it was going to go really well for them. And then, on stage, it was just really clicking, and the students’ body language was reading they were really having fun, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Fun? Take a look at the musicians in the Thunderdome before and during a varsity basketball game — they seem to be having more fun than the basketball players.

Then again, there are more musicians than players.

CHS has a marching band (the Regiment), three concert bands, two jazz bands, a winter guard program and the basketball (pep) band.

“There’s quite a bit of overlap with concert bands, jazz bands, winter guard and basketball band happening at the same time,” he said, adding that the school’s “total program is around 225, total, and some of the kids do multiple groups.”

In sharp contrast to the Piedra Vista band that performed before them in the state competition and had been attired in black, the CHS musicians were clad in multi-colored T-shirts — purple, blue, pink, orange, green and yellow.

There was a reason for that, Holmes said.

“We played a piece called ‘Kaleidoscope,’ a brand-new piece for wind ensemble,” explained Holmes. “The piece is all about different colors, different patterns, and so we wanted to portray that visually, you know, just have fun with it.”

It was basically four months in the making.

“Preparation started right when we came back from winter break. We rehearsed every day; we also did a lot of sectionals — small groups — to help prepare for this, because it was more-challenging music than we had played in the past,” Holmes said.

As for the music itself, “We start listening to music almost a year in advance. We have a short list of probably 40 or 50 tunes, and then we make (the list) smaller and smaller until we find the tunes that fit the best for the kids. We play each one a couple times before we decide on it.”

That said, Holmes said the original three-tune set had a substitution before the competition: “We actually changed out one tune … switched one tune out between March and state.”

The musicians have some input, too, he said. The happy band is a successful band.

“It sort of involves them, but it’s really what’s the best education that allows for the students’ success,” he added. “But we definitely test each piece and see what they think about them, to be sure.”

Even with a great director, great musicians and what is believed to be a great musical selection, there’s no guarantee for success, Holmes said.

“Art is very subjective, so it’s not concrete, like putting a ball in a basket (to score),” he said. “You may have a judge that loves your performance and another judge that doesn’t, sitting right next to him, and so we try not to talk too much about that because we can’t control what numbers they put down.” (There were three judges for the state competition.)

“Our main goal is to just feel great coming off the stage and have a real moving performance for the students and the audience alike. … But when it does go in our favor, it’s like the cherry on top.

“I thought we nailed it,” he said. “Their goal is having their best performance of the year, but I had a feeling we were going to do well.”

And, like all the “teams” at Cleveland High School, he’ll lose a lot of seniors when the 2024-25 school year and band rehearsals begin.

“We’re already deep in the marching band show design. We’ve been working on that since January,” he said. “The first two movements of our show are written and are ready to roll out of here pretty soon, so we’re already going on that, so it’s going to be a fun ‘marching season,’ for sure.”