By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
Several Moapa Valley High School band students were recently chosen to participate in the Southern Utah University Honor Band in Cedar City, Utah.
The honor band event is held once a year. SUU invites students who excel on their instruments to audition. If chosen, they come to SUU and put on a concert with only two intensive days of practice.
This year over 180 students, from 18 schools across Utah and Nevada, applied to participate.Only 126 students were accepted. MVHS had 7 students apply and all seven were accepted.
Students who wished to participate were given a piece of audition music to prepare for the event. Then, with the help of MVHS band director Kim Delgadillo, the students prepared audition recordings which were sent to SUU in mid-December. About two weeks later, all seven students heard that they had been accepted.
The event was held January 12-13 on the SUU campus. Students gathered early that Friday morning to begin the intensive preparation for the concert the following evening.
“We got the music about a week in advance so most of us had a chance to look it over,” said Yadon Witsken who plays the trumpet. “But the main practice started that Friday morning. The music was pretty challenging, which, I think, made it really fun to play.”
The director for the concert was Dr. Adam Lambert, SUU Associate Professor and Director of Bands. “I really liked the conductor,” said flutist Marina Mortensen. “He was intelligent and he knew what he was doing, but he was also a lot of fun and I felt like he really cared about us.”
Rehearsals went on all day Friday and then again Saturday morning.
The big concert was held on Saturday evening in the Heritage Center Theater. Students performed several pieces that further showcased the range of their abilities.
The popular honor band program is a win-win event for both students and the school. It gives students a glimpse of SUU’s music program, gets them on campus, and gives them a chance to talk to current SUU students about what college life is like while letting SUU preview talented musicians to recruit for their program. “This is the single largest recruiting event for instrumental music at SUU,” said Dr. Lambert. “Many of our incoming freshmen each year have participated in past honor bands.”
Many of the students went with the idea of checking out SUU for their future. “Honor band was something I really wanted to do this year because SUU is one of the schools I am looking at,” said Averee Widdison, who plays the alto saxophone. “I thought this was a great opportunity to show them what I can do while learning a lot and having the opportunity to improve.”
Zach Anderson, who plays the baritone saxophone and was the only repeat attendee, agreed, saying, “I had a great experience last year and this year was even better. I really enjoyed my time there and it really helped me cement my college decision.”
The weekend was not all about work, however. On Friday night the school hosted a dance for the honor band participants. They also held an event called College 101 where the students were able to visit with SUU students about college life and ask questions.
Witsken said this was one of the best parts of the experience for him. “It was great learning about college,” he said. “They had students talk to us about what college life is like and I really liked that part of the experience.”
Overall, all the kids agreed that it was time well spent. Those that aren’t graduating are eager to audition again next year. “I went for the experience and it didn’t disappoint,” said Justin Hendrix who plays tuba. “I learned a lot even from listening to the other tubas in my section.”
Delgadillo was proud of her students that they accepted this challenge and took advantage of this opportunity. “It’s a challenging program but they accomplished it and represented MVHS well.”
