Over 30 bands all from Eastern Washington came to compete against each other to find out who was the best.
Lake Stevens took all four bands, totaling about 150 students: Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Jazz 1 and Jazz 2.
After arriving at Pasco after the 5-hour bus ride, Concert was up to play.
The Concert Band played “A Childhood Remembered” by Rossano Galante, “Everything Beautiful” by Samuel Hazo, and “Evocatio” by Brian Balmages. They earned superior scores from both judges and received the first-ever gold medal for Concert Band.
The Wind Ensemble was scheduled to play at 3 pm. Playing “Solas Ane” by Samuel Hazo, “Rest” by Frank Ticheli, and “El Camino Real” by Alfred Reed, they received a superior score from one judge and broke history by getting a perfect score from the second judge. Wind Ensemble also received the first-ever gold medal for the wind ensemble.
The following night was time for Jazz.
Jazz 2 played three songs: “The Creole Love Call by Duke Ellington”, “In a Sentimental Mood by Duke Ellington” and “Miss Missouri by Count Basie”. Jazz 2 did not do as well as they had hoped, making mistakes here and there during their songs and they did not bring home any medals.

Jazz 1 played three songs as well: “Shangri-La by Billy Byers”, “Grace by The quincy Jones – Sammy Nestico Orchestra” and “Solid Old Man by Duke Ellington.” They received third place for the Jazz 1 category.
After the jazz bands played, they hosted the awards ceremony, where bands found out how they did against the other bands. Lake Stevens was not expecting to get any awards for Jazz, however, after finding out Jazz 1 won third place, hopes were rising.
“I expected the Wind Ensemble to do good, score good because of the amount of time we’ve put into our preparation. During playing with the Wind Ensemble, I thought we did really good, I enjoyed playing,” sophomore Kyan Holt said.
The last award, the Sweepstakes Award, goes to the school that had the highest score overall between their four bands. Announcing the two runner-ups to first there was a feeling of doubt. As the announcer started the lead-up to first place, the crowd was getting antsy waiting for the big reveal. It was announced that first place went to Lake Stevens High School. The musicians erupted with joy, screaming, and cheering. What they had hoped for had finally come to fruition. Breaking history for the third time, in one night.
“I was excited, I didn’t think we were gonna get it, but it was really exciting to be able to win that big of an award, being the first time I’ve gone to Pasco with the band,” Holt said.

Concert Band and Jazz 2 don’t require an audition to get in. If you want to play, and you want to learn, and you’re passionate about music, you’ll get in. However, Wind Ensemble and Jazz 1 are audition-based bands. To get into either of those groups, you need to do an audition. The music the Jazz bands played had been prepared all year to ensure they were perfect.
Wind Ensemble and Concert Band had been preparing their pieces since January, having more pressure due to the lack of time to perfect the three songs played.