On May 2nd, the OP Band made their most awaited trip of the year: Music in the Parks. This is a competition where schools try to impress adjudicators by playing their music , and then spend the rest of the day at Six Flags. After the day at the park, each school gets a trophy with a rating of Superior, Excellent, Fair, Poor, or Participant. With all our preparation, Mr.Plagge was expecting us to get no less than excellent.
As a jazz band, we prepared and mastered two great jazz pieces: “What I Did For Love,” by Marvin Hamlisch, featuring Tim Ring on saxophone and “One Note Samba,” by Antonio Carlos Jobim featuring Anthony Rocha on guitar. We were on stage at 8:40 at Jackson Liberty high school ready to play. We played both songs really well and were on our way to Six Flags.
At 5:30, the band met up at the arena in Six Flags to get the awards. After long speeches about “what it truly means to be here,” and, “why we all did so well,” the awards were handed out. After a few minutes of eager waiting, they announced that Oratory won the Excellent trophy. This was our best in the three years we went to Music in the Parks. Everyone could hear our jubilation as Dan Cochran and David Batista collected our trophy. Our day was topped off when Anthony Rocha won the “outstanding soloist” award. After the award ceremony we got back on the bus and headed home. This was easily the best “Music in the Parks” Oratory has experienced.