Sweet sounds of success: CCHS musicians earn four gold medals

Talk about ending on a high note: For the second year in a row, Acton-Carlisle High School music students have brought home a quartet of gold medals. 

Every spring, the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association holds its Concert Festival, where school choirs, orchestras, and bands from all over the state perform and are graded for excellence. 

CCHS’s select choir, orchestra, wind ensemble, and symphonic band participated this year on March 28-29. All got gold.

“It’s basically an adjudicated music festival,” said Christopher Noce, CCHS director of bands and orchestras. “The margin for error for a gold medal is pretty slim.”

Scores are averaged across three judges on a 45-point scale, with gold awarded to ensembles scoring from 41 to 45. Judges evaluate technical precision and musicality, including tone quality, balance, and expression.

“Nothing on the rubric says ‘right notes, right rhythms.’ That’s like table stakes. It’s already assumed you will know the music perfectly,” Noce said. “What they are looking for is the nuance, the meaning behind it.” 

Preparation for the festival starts months in advance, with students beginning work on selected repertoire in January.

“They work really, really hard,” Noce said.

“They’re devoted, and they practice, and they prepare, and they are diligent in their preparation.”

For Choral Director Sarah Grina, this year’s feedback highlighted something beyond technical success.

“One of the bigger compliments [was] how much nuance the students were able to bring to the performance and how they sort of transcended correct pitches and rhythms to storytelling and art making,” she said.

Hundreds of ensembles participate in the festival each year, making consecutive across-the-board gold ratings an uncommon achievement, according to the CCHS directors. 

Noce said the high attendance also allowed students to learn from each other. 

“It is so collaborative,” he said. “We’re all growing as a team.”