Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 10, 1994                   TAG: 9405100118
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-6   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BAND WINS FESTIVAL

Twelve East Coast bands competed in the Music in the Parks Festival on Saturday.

The Christiansburg band placed first in the middle school classification and was the judges' choice as Outstanding Band of the Day of all of the competing bands, which included high school and middle school students, according to director Robert Wall.

"We received a superior rating of 185 out of a possible 200," Wall said Monday.

The bands also are rated on a scale of 1 to 10 and the Christiansburg band received seven 10s.

"This was probably one of our better performances this year and the judges agreed," Wall said. "It wasn't 100-percent perfect, but it's as close as you can come on a middle school level."

The band has 74 student members, most of them eighth-graders.

This is the second year in a row the band won its classification in this festival, the biggest competition for the school each year.