Black Diamond Middle School band and orchestra perform at music festivals, receive awards

The Black Diamond Middle School band and orchestra.

The Black Diamond Middle School band and orchestra.

By John Crowder

On Saturday, March 21, three ensembles of students from Black Diamond Middle School (BDMS) performed at the 2014-2015 California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Bay Section Solo/Ensemble Music Festival at San Jose State University, achieving two excellent and one superior rating.

Then, on Friday, March 27, at the CMEA Large Ensemble Festival held at Deer Valley High School (DVHS), both the Advanced Orchestra and the Festival Band received awards. Superior is the highest rating possible, and Excellent the second-highest.

Excellent ratings were earned by the String Trio of Jeremiah Franco, Joseph Griego and Sophia Thoman and the Woodwind group of Tiffany Danh, Brianna Keleti, Tia Zaiser, and Julian Uy. The superior rating was earned by the Percussion Duo of Abraham Moina and Patrick Queiroz.

A composite Superior Rating in performance and an excellent rating in sight-reading was achieved by the Advanced Orchestra. The Festival Band topped the rankings, and earned the coveted Unanimous Superior rating in performance, and another Superior in sight-reading.

The talented students making up the music groups will be performing in concert at the BDMS Open House, 6:00 p.m., on Thursday, May 7, then again on Tuesday, May 12, at the BDMS Spring Concert.

Phyllis James, principal at BDMS, credited the hard work of music teacher Damian Ting for much of the success of the music program.

His caring and concern for our students is only surpassed by his love of music,” she said.


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BDSM band


One Comment to “Black Diamond Middle School band and orchestra perform at music festivals, receive awards”

  1. Julio says:

    Congratulations to these very talented kids. They are from a school we hear so much bad stuff about.

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