At my school, the music department takes a trip every year to some awesome place for competition. It isn’t really against other schools, because every group who performs gets a rating: festival, good, excellent, or superior. Only 5% of the groups in the nation get superior, so it is a very hard thing to do. My freshman year, the music department went to Pittsburgh, and in sophomore year we went to Boston. Junior year was Washington, D.C., and finally, this year, we went to Virginia Beach. This last trip was by far the best trip we have ever been on.
I am in the select choir and symphonic band at my school, and getting ready for competition is always fun, but stressful. We definitely left prepared, but we always want that superior, and there is always that chance that we may not get it. Symphonic band has gotten superior every year since I have been there, and way before too. Select choir and orchestra usually get excellent, and jazz band also has always gotten superior. This year, I personally wanted to leave with all superiors. It would be such a great way to end my senior year! I know I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, either.
So we left on a Wednesday night, got to the beach Thursday morning and just relaxed, swam, shopped, and ate until that night, when we had our final rehearsals. Our hotel was right on the boardwalk, and we all had balcony rooms. It was the best view of my life, and I miss the place so much. I fell in love with that beach that day. Anyway, the next day we had our performances. We all got up early, made sure we had everything, and we were off to the high school where the judges were waiting. It was such an exciting time. After our performances, we all praised ourselves about how good we did. After every song, in both groups I performed in, I just was overwhelmed with adrenaline. It was such a great feeling, and the knowledge that this was my last trip ever motivated me even more.
We couldn’t find out until our formal dance that night what ratings we got, so for the rest of the day, we hung around the beach some more and just had fun doing the most random things. Finally, it was time to get all dressed up for our dance. We got together with all the other participating schools at another hotel and ate dinner, and finally it was time. The speaker for the judges got in front of us all and called up representatives for each group, one by one. This is the first year that they didn’t announce the scores to the whole group, so the suspense was killing us. After he was done, we all ran to our directors and shouted and cheered, and I know I got teary-eyed; every group got superior. Wait, let me repeat that. EVERY GROUP GOT SUPERIOR! It was the best news of the whole trip, and we all were so happy and proud. This was the first time this has happened in nine years for our school. What a way to end senior year!
The trip still wasn’t over, though. The dance was a blast, with all the other schools being there and crazy club music playing (that DJ was pretty cool). Later that night, some of us snuck out of our rooms and just hung out, getting no sleep at all (but don’t tell our chaperones). And finally, our last day at Virginia Beach was spent at Busch Gardens. It was the best amusement park I have ever been to. I love rollercoasters, and they had the most insane coasters I have ever seen: tall and fast, loop-de-loop, and even 90-degree drops—I definitely lost my voice after all that screaming. Plus, my a cappella group, Jukevox, got to perform in “Italy” (the park is sorted by countries) on this awesome stage for complete strangers in Virginia. They loved us! Needless to say, it was a great day. Leaving that night for Rochester was a sad time, especially because we were leaving 70-degree weather for 50s again…. But it is good to be home! School is getting closer and closer to being over, summer is getting closer and closer to starting, and Orientation is getting closer and closer for all of us…!