23 high school and middle schools gathered at Woodrow, warming up their embouchure, preparing to face the judges and play their instruments to the best of their abilities. 

Such was the case for our very own Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles Band. They performed their best, with the judges awarding the highest possible rating — three ones. 

Ratings is a 2 day festival hosted in Woodrow Wilson’s auditorium. At Ratings, High School and Middle School bands from all over Southern West Virginia come to perform in front of three judges. Judges must rank each band on a scale from one to five, one being the best.

Unlike most other competitions, Ratings is not a competition against other schools; it’s the band against themselves. “If everyone does really well, everyone could get a one, but the chances of that are slim,” said Jacob Sloane, first chair trombone player for the Flying Eagles Band, stated. 

Only two other schools received a “one” out of the twelve who competed, one of which was another Raleigh County School — Park Middle School.  Park performed on Wednesday, the sixth, along with Woodrow and other schools. “I feel we performed to the best of our abilities,” said Jack Barnes, Park Middle School band member. “It goes to show the potential of our future musicians and what they can achieve.” 

Unfortunately, Woodrow has not participated in Ratings since 2019 because of COVID-19. Even with the nerves and inexperience, “We got all 3 judges to give us a 1 so we got as good of a score that you could get.” Jacob Sloane stated, “I don’t even think it was our best performance of those songs, but that’s a good thing. That means even when we aren’t at our best, we’re still an outstanding band.” 

Woodrow will continued to show the excellence that Mr. Pinnick is teaching our modern musicians. The future is bright for the music world.