On Thursday, the Duncan seventh and eighth-grade band students went to the Duncan High School to rehearse for their contest, which is set for Tuesday.
The band director from New Castle, Todd Baker, came to help the band and to give his opinions on how to make the songs better.
First, the band members played their two songs for him to show what they sounded like, and then he tweaked the songs, giving his opinion on what would improve the songs.
The students practiced from 10 a.m. to noon in the auditorium, and then did sight reading from noon to 12:30 p.m. Sight reading is the second part of the contest, where students have eight minutes to look over new music without playing it. After the eight minutes ends, the band has to play the song to the best of its abilities and are judged by a panel present in the room.
The judges look for how band members act, how they play and how they prepared for playing the music.
After practice, the students ate pizza and watched a movie during lunch time.
Baker said he was impressed with the students and thought they would do well in the contest.
