Band members performed at the Solo and Ensemble Music Performance Assessment at Melbourne High School on Feb. 13. West Shore musicians received 25 superior ranking by judges in 32 total events.

“We performed “The Chicken”, a jazz piece originally written by Alfred Ellis,” bassist David Freeman said,” I tried to emulate the style of Jaco Pastorius.”

Trumpeter Samuel Mikhail expressed relief following his performance.

“After [the performance], I felt like we had done a decent job and was satisfied with my individual part,” the junior said. “Overall, it was a great learning experience and a huge step towards building our combo.”

Much of the preparation for MPAs was done outside of school.

“I felt that our performance at MPA was decent,” Freeman said. “But there’s plenty of room for improvement, which the the combo will continue to work on.”

By Jonah Hinebaugh