Sudents from many schools combine to form the Honor Band.
Bands from Brown County Schools had several students participate in the Indiana Bandmasters Association All-Region and All-District Honor Bands at Bedford North Lawrence High School over the span of two weekends earlier this month.
At these events, students got music ahead of time and had to work on it in preparation for the weekend.
Then they got about six-and-a-half hours of rehearsal to put it together over Saturday and Sunday, with a performance on Sunday, according to Brown County Band Director Matthew Finley.
Finley said the students had a “fabulous time” and the groups all performed very well.
On Nov. 11 and 12, one student participated in the Middle School One, which was All-Region. Kamrin Surface, who plays clarinet, was the representative at Clark-Pleasant Middle School in Whiteland.
Several Brown County High School Band students participated in the event on Nov. 19 and 20.
Dylan Taylor and Cadence Cox played percussion, Naje Bedja, Henry Himebaugh and Jayce Riggle played trumpet, Victoria Klaker played clarinet, Trevor Shields played flute and Zack Reed played bass clarinet.
Finley said both performances were made of up similarly aged students throughout their respective regions, all from different schools.
“It’s really awesome to get to see kids from different schools and ages performing together. I think that it highlights how incredible it is to be involved in music,” he said.
“The fact that we can get a group of talented and driven individuals to come together and perform is really awesome to see, as well as be a part of.”
Finley added that he thinks it’s important for kids to have these experiences to get them to experience playing with a different group and conductor, as well as playing music that is different than what they would normally play.
“Plus, being in a group of highly motivated people is rewarding in its own right,” he said.
“Exposure to all these things is very reaffirming and reenergizing to the students.”
