Mack Lyon Band Receives High Marks At Festival

By MAGGIE MCMURRAY

Moapa Valley Progress

The Mack Lyon Middle School Symphonic Band made Moapa Valley proud at their spring band festival last week in Las Vegas. The band performed at Ham Hall at UNLV before a panel of nationally recognized judges. This year’s band is 40 players strong and under the direction of new band teacher Nichalos Waters.

For their first set of judges, the band performed three pieces that they had worked all year to prepare. They played “Grand Canyon Overture” by James Swearengen, “The Water is Wide” by Julie Griffen, which also featured a flute solo by 8th grader Sydney Landini, and “Desert Storm” by Ken Harris.

The group then went before another judge who had them sightread some music and then gave them a score.
“Overall I was absolutely pleased with how it went,” Waters said. “I’m definitely proud of the kids and their work ethic.”

At the end of the day, the band was very happy to learn that they had received a combination of superior and excellent ratings from the judges that allowed them to get an “excellent” rating overall in both categories.
“Festival went very well,” Waters said. “The kids performed and behaved well so it was a very educational and enjoyable day and a very positive experience overall.”

Waters said he tries to keep experiences like this as educational as possible. A recording of each band is made as they perform that contains a judges’ commentary. The day following the festival, Waters allowed the class to listen to this tape so they could not only hear what the judges heard, but also the comments that were made regarding specific parts of their pieces as they performed them.

This is Waters’ first year at Mack Lyon, but he is no stranger to teaching band. Prior to coming to Lyon, Waters taught both high school and middle school band students at Foothill High School in Las Vegas.
Waters said this is his first experience teaching just middle school students and he loves it. “I really like the school and enjoy teaching just the one age group,” he said. “It’s exciting to be in a different atmosphere and I’m really excited to take this program to a new level.”