Kingfisher Band Director Mandy Owens came away pleased with her high school group after a strong showing at the 2020 OSSAA district concert and sight-reading contest.

The KHS band earned an “Excellent” overall rating for its concert performance and, more impressively, a “Superior” - or a 1 - in sight reading at the March 3 competition at Elk City.

“The 1 in sight reading was awesome,” Owens said.

In that portion of the competition, the band is given a brand-new piece and eight minutes to talk through it before playing it.

The band earned a pair of 2’s and a 1 to get its “Excellent” rating in concert.

Although that left the group just shy of qualifying for the state competition, Owens wasn’t discouraged.

“We were very close,” she noted. “And the kids played extremely well.”

Owens and the band began working on their concert pieces “American Patrol” and “Nevermore” in early January.

“‘Nevermore’ was a very different piece from what we usually play,” Owens said.

She explained the song is a tone poem that started with a piano solo played by Elizabeth Rutherford and ended with alto sax and trombone solos played by Jett Matson and Coltyn Young. “The students worked hard to balance and line up this unusual piece based off of (Edgar Allan Poe’s poem) ‘The Raven,’” she said.