After more than 850 high school band members applied for Auburn's honor band, only 223 were selected to participate in the 19th annual Honor Band Festival last weekend.
After auditions, participants were split into three bands--Tiger Band, Eagle Band and Wind Symphony--and spent two-and-a-half days preparing for the final concert for friends and family Sunday, Feb. 14.
"It's great to see festivals like this alive and well," said Brian Balmages, guest conductor and director of instrumental publications for The FJH Music Company Inc in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "We're in a day and age where the arts are becoming increasingly scrutinized."
Balmages, who was contacted about a year ago to guest conduct at the festival, said being a guest conductor was an honor and it was a great opportunity for him to work with the students.
"The most important thing I try to leave with them is to make sure they're always approaching music with a sense of passion," Balmages said. "Being a musician is a difficult thing."
Balmages said being a musician is more than just playing notes from a page; he said it's being able to communicate emotions to the listener.
"You can make them get nervous, make them cry," Balmages said.
One participant of the 88 high schools represented, Jessica Mansel, ninth grade bass clarinet player from Pelham High School, said she feels honored to be able to participate in Auburn's honor band.
"It's a really high honor because they only pick the best students," Mansel said. "You get to see the campus and get to talk to college students and conductors to get your name out there." After being involved in band for six years, Mansel said it has always been her dream to be a member of Auburn's marching and concert bands.
"(Auburn is different) because it's one of the big schools I'm looking at for college," Mansel said. "You get to interact with others on campus and see what it may be like to attend school here."
Mansel said she has attended many honor bands and was chosen to march with Auburn's band at the Ball State football game, in hopes of standing out from other band members wanting to be college level musicians.
Balmages said advancing to the college level is an attainable goal for many of the honor band participants.
"Some of the top honor band players play as well as some of the college players," Balmages said. "(To reach that goal) you've got to have great internal motivation. It takes a great deal of self-discipline."
Rick Good, director of bands at Auburn and conductor of one of the honor bands, said high schoolers benefit greatly from participating in honor bands.
"They get to see a university campus and interact with college students," Good said. "It also reinforces what their high school band directors have taught them. A lot of times they stop listening to what they say."
Good said musicians have to be open-minded and honor band participation encourages them to do just that.
Good advised high school students hoping to advance to the college level to stay motivated.
"First of all, go to college," Good said. "Second of all, don't give up playing your instruments. You have to remember to motivate yourself because in college you have to have that mindset."
Jacob Brantley, senior in electrical engineering and baritone saxophone player in Auburn's concert band, also encouraged high schoolers to keep playing their instruments.
"It's all about getting involved," Brantley said. "Most high schoolers don't think they can do it at the college level, but you just have to have desire and a positive, hard-working attitude."
Brantley said the purpose of honor bands is for recruiting, similar to football.
One way the band recruits is with the help of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, national honorary service fraternity and sorority at Auburn.
"We couldn't do this without them," Good said. "The best recruiters are students."
For more information on the AU Bands, Kappa Kappa Psi or Tau Beta Sigma visit www.band.auburn.edu, www.kkpsipi.org or www.auburn.edu/ student_info/tau_beta_ sigma.
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