Despite tearing the cartilage in her wrist, flutist Michelle Smith plans to perform with the school band in Saturday’s music performance assessment.

“I tore my cartilage off of my bone and then had a hole in the other side,” the sophomore said. “I’m not sure how I did it though, probably from ice skating.”

Smith, the flute section’s third chair, said she had felt disheartened when she thought she couldn’t play with them.

“I felt awful because I was letting the band down,” she said. “But then the doctor told me I could play at that point. I just have to be careful.”

The Music Performance Assessments provide public and private school bands an opportunity to see how they measure up against other programs. Band members play for judges who rate them on a scale of  one to five, with one being superior and five being poor.

“MPA is stressful, but fun at the same time while you are there because you get excited to finally play what you have been working on,” Smith said.

“Mostly the band director freaks out about it,” added band instructor Carol Allen.

Smith has been practicing and plans to be at the MPA with her band.

“I’m going to learn the music on my own and play with the band as much as I can stand it,” she said. “But I will perform at MPA.”

By Samantha Watson