Last school year, when Alyssa Leonhardt played clarinet with the Mount Hebron High School band, she was part of an institution with a long tradition of excellence.
But this school year, she is at Marriotts Ridge, and there is no tradition.
"We get to set all the traditions," she said.
The 56 members of the Marriotts Ridge High School Symphonic Winds Esemble are enjoying the advantages of a new school, including a spacious music room with fresh paint, new-carpet smell and plenty of space.
But there are disadvantages to starting a band from scratch. The young musicians don't have a marching band. They don't have juniors and seniors. They don't have a history. And until recently, they didn't have a sense of how they stacked up against other bands in the county.
On Saturday, though, Marriotts Ridge showed that its band stacks up quiet nicely. In the countywide adjudication, the band scored all 1's, placing it in the top tier of county bands.
"I think they were surprised," said Nick Ellis, the band director. "Being a first-year program, that's not what you'd expect."
"I think that's highly unusual," said Robert White, instructional facilitator of music for the county. "Because it's a new school, you don't have the opportunity to build a program."
Adjudication is a rite of passage for middle school and high school bands and orchestras. The high school band adjudication was held Friday afternoon and most of Saturday at Glenelg High School.
Each band played two pieces that it had rehearsed, and one that it had never seen. Four judges -- college music professors and band directors from other counties -- scored the performances on a range of criteria, including intonation, technique, musical effect and balance. Those scores are combined for an overall score. One is the top score, and five the lowest.
Of the 22 bands that performed Friday and Saturday, 12 received ones, 9 got a 2 and one ranked as 3, White said.
On Monday, students at Marriotts Ridge were visibly relieved that the process was over and that they had done so well.
"They're happy," Ellis said.
"We set the precedent really high," said Dan Hwang, a sophomore and the section leader for saxophone. "I wasn't expecting too much."
Said Kevin Eikenberg, a freshman and percussion section leader: "It was probably the best we've played."
"I thought we did really well," said Emily Huang, section leader for clarinet, who attended Centennial High School last year.
