On Jan. 31, Clarke Central High School Director of Bands and fine arts department co-chair Robert Lawrence stands in front of plaques the bands have earned from previous Large Group Performance Evaluation events. The CCHS bands will perform at LGPE on March 21-22. “All of the standards that were put forward for band come from the National Association for Music Education, and we employ so many of those in everyday preparation, whether it be for LGPE or just concerts,” Lawrence said. “Dogs bark, fish swim, birds fly, bands play, and that’s where we learn how to play.” Photo by Elena Webber
The Clarke Central High School band program is preparing for the Pre-Large Group Performance Evaluation, which will take place on Feb. 21.
Members of the Clarke Central High School band program are currently preparing for their Pre-Large Group Performance Evaluation concert, which will take place on Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. at CCHS.
“We don’t have a state-sponsored (End of Course Assessment), so our EOC is Large Group Performance Evaluation, which is sponsored by our state standards entity, which is the Georgia Music Education Association, falling under the umbrella of the National Association for Music Education,” Director of Bands and fine arts department co-chair Robert Lawrence said.
The CCHS wind ensemble, wind symphony, symphonic band, concert band, Clarke Middle School concert band and Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School concert band will be performing for Pre-LGPE at CCHS.
According to Lawrence, the performance will be assessed by three judges, and he looks forward to the feedback provided.
“The most important thing are the comments that we get. We don’t get ratings, we get comments on how prepared we are or how prepared we’re not, what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are and how we can improve. Those are the comments (we get) from the three judges,” Lawrence said.
To prepare for Pre-LGPE, Lawrence and assistant band director Christopher Simpson are hosting after-school rehearsals and scheduling times for clinicians to come in and enhance the musicians’ skills.
“It helps us get ready for the actual LGPE, and if we don’t do too good at Pre-LGPE, then it makes up realize that we need to work a lot harder to actually get to what we want to hear for actual LGPE,” Jordan Raysor, a senior who participates in multiple CCHS bands, said. “I’m excited (for Pre-LGPE) because it’s my last one. I think it’s fun (anyways), but this is my last one, so I’m even more excited for it.”
With just weeks before Pre-LGPE and with LGPE on March 21-22, Lawrence says this is a busy time for the band program.
“We have a lot going on. This is the pressure for the pressure cooker. Everybody else has their season and so do we. This is where we make our mark,” Lawrence said.
