Students from the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula recently gathered at Mathews High School to participate in honor bands for middle and high school.
A few hundred students auditioned for the bands in February, reported LMS band director Kenny Flester. Those selected began rehearsing Friday morning with music they had never seen before under a director they had never met. They gave a concert Saturday afternoon.
Fifteen students represented Lancaster, he said. Jayson Gill on trumpet, Wyatt McCranie on percussion and Alyssa Meadows on clarinet represented Lancaster High School. Madison Giese and Emily Gill on flute, Grace Oren, Olivia Saunders, NyJhria Gordon, Emily Kane and Amaya Veney on clarinet, Kayla Oren on trumpet, Sarah Wells Pollard on French horn, Carter McGee and Alyssa Hasson on trombone and Daniel Smith on baritone represented Lancaster Middle School.
The Junior High band was under the direction of Tiffany Hitz. Leon Aumann led the senior high band. They put together a program of music that was very moving and exciting for the audience, as well as a learning experience for the musicians, said Flester.
“The great atmosphere at area band allowed everyone to come together and throw a great concert for the audience,” said Smith.
“This is a great experience for the students,” said Flester. “It shows them a new way of looking at music. They become better musicians, they bring that experience back with them to their own schools and it helps add to the quality of their home bands.”
