Earlier this month, Danvers High School hosted the 2025 MICCA competition for the third time in a row, winning multiple awards.
What is MICCA? MICCA stands for Massachusetts Instrumental & Choral Conductors Association. All of the band groups, including over 34 schools from all around Massachusetts, performed at Danvers High School, and all of the choral groups competed at North Andover High School.
Danvers High School’s band performed a total of three songs. The pieces performed were “Galop Festivo”, “Perthshire Majesty”, and “The River of Life”. These songs displayed a variety of styles including march, contemporary, and slow Irish based.
In addition, our choir also sang three songs: “Sound the Trumpet”, “Venga Nel Nostro Coro”, and “When the Light of Morning Breaks”. The songs consisted of Italian folk music, gospel, and classic contemporary.
The competition was a three-day long event starting on Friday the 4th and ending on the night of Sunday the 6th. Many students volunteered to help with concessions, ushering, setting up, and even became tour guides for other groups.
Both groups were judged on a rubric based on shaping, dynamics, musical accuracy, and phrasing. Winners are ranked in levels of gold, silver, and bronze. At the competition here at the school, Danvers’ concert band won gold (while three other towns won gold as well). While in North Andover, the DHS choir won a silver medal.
Both performances clearly resulted in victories, DHS Band director Jeffrey Daniels says “It was our third year hosting, so I think we have it down to science now. So, overall it went well!”
Overall, it was another successful year for the DHS music program, and students are excited to compete again in next year’s MICCA competition.
