Ann Richards Middle School Bands
receives Excellent and Superior ratings at UIL

Today 7th and 8th graders in both of our performing bands, the Concert Band and Symphonic Band, took part in the Region 20 CCC Middle School UIL Concert and Sight Reading contest. For those of you not familiar with music in Texas, UIL is most easily considered our STAAR. While labeled a "contest", the bands do not actually compete against each other for placement. Instead, they are graded according to a rubric and assigned a grade compared to a standard. This is an extremely intense day, as the students are evaluated not on an individual level, but as an entire group.

For those unfamiliar with the process, the grades are determined by 3 judges on stage and 3 judges in sight reading. The easiest way to explain the grades is to compare it to the old state STAAR accountability ratings for a campus:

Students prepared 3 pieces over the past 3 months chosen from a curricular list provided by the state. This was the "Stage" portion of UIL. After this performance, they are paraded into a room, handed a BRAND NEW (composed just for the contest) piece of music and are then given only 7 minutes to study it. In that time they cannot play, talk, ask questions, or make a sound. The band director can teach, but is limited by many rules as to what they can do exactly. After the time limit is up, the band must perform that new music at a level comparable to the 3 month prepared selection. This is EXTREMELY challenging.

With all of that background out of the way, I am very proud to announce that our Concert Band directed my Ms. Standlee received an Excellent rating in both Stage and Sight Reading. This is a huge accomplishment for any Intermediate level band. This set of ratings is currently one of the best in all of DISD (including some advanced bands!). These students and Ms. Standlee should be congratulated for their hard work!

I am even more excited and proud to share that our Symphonic Band achieved a rare level for any band, not just DISD or our region, but in the State of Texas. Symphonic Band received a Sweepstakes award, which is given to bands who earn 1st Division Superior ratings in BOTH Stage and Sight Reading. These students put in many hours of work, and let me push them extremely hard. This achievement is momentous for both our band program and our school. Not only did they achieve at the same level as non-at risk students, they exceeded that level. We are extremely proud of them and hope that you can be too.