ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — Centennial High School's wind ensemble is making its triumphant return to Chicago's Midwest Clinic, the largest music education conference in the world.
The band is one of only five high schools selected to perform at the annual event. It's now their second visit.
WATCH: High school band selected for prestigious Midwest Clinic music conference for second time
The first time was seven years ago, led by director David Matchim who will return again this year. In 2018, they were the first Maryland high school band to receive the honor in more than four decades.
"It's a really exciting and humbling moment,"Matchim said.
He noticed last year that the group had an energy of cohesiveness that makes good ensembles great. After submitting their audition last school year, the students anxiously awaited results.
"We called Midwest the 'M-word' and we refused to say it or talk about it because we didn't want to get our hopes up," percussionist Tessa Cipriano explained.
But the invitation finally arrived.
"I got pretty emotional when I got it and my choir teacher and best friend Becca Vanover was with me and we had this heartfelt moment and then I nonchalantly told the kids," Matchim said. "They jumped up and screamed up and down and there were kids crying and they all hugged each other. There were kids crying and they all hugged each other."
"It was just crazy. I wish that everybody could experience it. It was the best moment I think I've ever had in my life," Cipriano said.
The band will depart at 5 a.m. Monday morning on buses to make the 13 hour trip with one of their biggest cheerleaders, principal Dr. Joelle Miller, on board.
"Watching their growth over the last 6-7 months, it really is profound,"Miller said. "I've never heard anything like it."
Their performance will feature special guests including Sean Jones, chair of jazz studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and Dance at Johns Hopkins University. Jones performed with Centennial for the first time this week.
"It was awesome. The students are really ready to go. They're vibrant. They're energetic," he said. “I’ve actually performed this [song] a couple of times with some colleges around the country, and it's nice to be able to play it with a high school group that can actually pull it off.”
It's been months in the making, the students working during their time out of the classroom to learn the complex music. Cipriano also helped to build a makeshift taiko drum, needed for one of their pieces, from old tires and tape.
Trumpeter and junior Mehdi Ibrahim says with the moment finally here, it's a bit nerve wracking, but believes their dedication as a team to achieving perfect harmony is paying off.
"I think that's what makes it really, really beautiful and that's what makes this process like so much fun for all of us. It doesn't even feel like work anymore," Ibrahim said.
"The whole time it feels a little bit like I'm a wedding planner with people that have never been to a wedding and don't know what a wedding is, but now they're seeing it and they're really understanding why the preparation was the way it was," Matchim said.
As the band puts finishing touches on their repertoire, they're also taking time to savor the achievement. Deep dish pizza awaits them at their hotel as they prepare to take the stage on Wednesday afternoon, the first day of the conference.
The band is performing a prelude to the conference at 2 p.m. on Sunday December 14th for free, at the University of Maryland College Park's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
You can find more information here.
