For most students, February is a relatively calm month with Valentine’s Day and winter break. For the kids in band and chorus, however, February can bring lots of stress with the Large Group Performance Evaluation’s (LGPE), impending deadline.
LGPE is exactly how it sounds. The Etowah Band and Chorus travel to another school or a church (wherever the event is being held that year) and perform two to three songs for a panel of three judges. These judges are usually experienced musicians and well-known among the choral and band communities. The judges score the group’s performance off a pre-determined rubric, which can be reviewed by the group’s director later. The rubric includes tone, pitch, rhythm, ensemble (the balance and blend of the group), diction, interpretation, and other factors ranging from music choice to the group’s appearance and stage presence.
“I think the rubric is reasonable for the most part. I do feel that time to prepare should be considered especially because some circumstances can affect how long a group has to learn the music and learn it well,” Hannah Bryant, junior, said.
To Etowah, LGPE is like the fine art version of the Milestone test, a test that Georgia students take to evaluate their abilities in various subjects. Getting feedback from the judges lets the groups know what they need to fix for future performances, tells them what they are doing well, and, depending on the score, boosts morale for the group. It is graded on a scale of one to five; One is Superior (the best score), two is Excellent (a few mistakes might have been made), three is Good (a good performance, but not great), four is Fair (an alright performance, although major changes should happen), and five is Poor (the lowest score, telling the group that the performance was weak and obvious mistakes were made).
“LGPE scoring can vary depending on the judge. There are judges who look for specific things, though, I believe the scoring is fair because it helps the group learn and grow. Honesty and criticism are necessary towards the development of every performer,” Elina Paneru, sophomore, said.
In terms of chorus, Etowah’s Schola Cantorum, a blend of guys and girls, is one of the top high school choirs in the state. In recent years, they have achieved clean sweeps of all Superiors at LGPE. This year, every Etowah choir did exceptionally well with an overall scoring of Ones. The Etowah bands also perform well, usually achieving all Superior scorings, as well.
“As a band member, there is a lot of preparation for LGPE. We get about 3 months to work on our three songs both inside and outside of class. We have after-school rehearsals once a week for about an hour. I feel like all three of our bands perform well with typical score of all Ones with the occasional Two” Luke Wright, sophomore, said.
While LGPE can be a big stressor for students in the arts, it also provides constructive feedback to allow the groups to advance further in their performances. So, cheer on the Eagle Bands on March 6 for their LGPE, and congratulate the choirs; rock on Eagles!
