The Pembroke Pines Charter High School (PPCHS) Band recently had their Musical Performance Assessment (MPA) for the Wind Symphony band. This assessment is one they’ve worked towards all year, where officials judge and critique their hard work. Wind Symphony is the most advanced out of all of the different genre groups in the band. The complexity is intricate but beautifully delivered, allowing them to successfully win multiple awards this year and make school history.
Filling the tense silence, Broward College’s Bailey Hall fills with a rich melody from the PPCHS Band. The audience takes in every sound from each instrument, as do the judges. Pitch, tone, and neatness are all factors of the required criteria that the PPCHS Wind Symphony checked off. The advanced team’s hard work was rewarded with the honor of winning multiple straight superiors, the highest award one can achieve at the district and state assessments.
Wind Symphony winning straight superiors at the state assessment was the missing piece of the puzzle. The band has now won straight superior awards in all assessments for every genre group. The Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, Marching Band, and Jazz Band have made school history with each of their accomplishments.
The PPCHS Wind Symphony was one of three bands in Broward County to earn an overall superior award, and the only band in Broward County to earn Straight Superiors from the judges.
The band was also recognized by the Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA) by receiving the Otto J. Kraushaar Straight Superior award. This is the first time ever that the award has been given to the PPCHS Band. The program’s high level of performance throughout the school year has paid off. This award can only be received by earning Straight Superior awards in all assessments.
This was a huge win for the band program. As of early December, the band members put all their efforts into perfecting the piece they were going to showcase. Intense practices, preparation, and performances allowed all the different teams to unite and win big at last. This is a team effort from every person involved in the band program. Every genre of music created formed a huge community to share wins like this.
Wind Symphony member Ana Guardo comments, “One memory I’ll never forget is definitely when we were taking a group picture and Espinosa showed us we had won the Otto J. Kraushaar award and we all started screaming and cheering! I couldn’t believe it.”
“We would like to thank our admin, faculty, staff, and parents that have supported us this year and helped our group to reach new heights of success that we had only dreamed of achieving years prior,” says Band Director Matthew Espinosa.
