Zachary approached us a few months ago about the possibility of trying out for the Ohio Music Education Association District 5 Junior High Honors Band, which is a band performance made up of three Junior High band students from each of many school districts across a tri-county area. The schedule involved a Wednesday evening rehearsal, an all day Friday rehearsal, and a Saturday morning rehearsal, followed by a Saturday afternoon performance on the stage of Youngstown's historic Stambaugh Auditorium.
Zachary has excelled in his three year career with the trumpet, and the family schedule made it possible for Jen to taxi him at all the required times, so we encouraged him to apply.
Apply, he did, and was selected as one of three to represent his Junior High School!
The guest conductor for the Junior High Band was Timothy Loest. Mr. Loest is a published composer (he composed two of the five pieces in this performance) and the Band Director at F.E. Peacock Middle School, in Itasca Illinois. It was a great opportunity for the participants to work these two days under the tutelage of someone who has uniquely chosen to use his musical talents in this combination... composer, conductor, middle school teacher.
A few weeks ago, the music selections were sent to every participant to learn and practice at home. This past Wednesday evening was the first rehearsal at a local high school. Jen said things sounded a bit rough. Friday was the first rehearsal at Stambaugh with Mr. Loest and Jen said the Friday transformation under Mr. Loest's direction was pretty remarkable. Saturday morning was spent with Mr. Loest, fine tuning and making final preparations for the concert.
I was expecting the afternoon's concert to be pretty decent... but it was better than decent... it was VERY good! It is amazing that these kids have only been playing their instruments 3-4 years and it is equally amazing that the performers and the conductor put such a performance together in a relatively short time. I thoroughly enjoyed both the Junior High and High School Honors Band performances (the High School Honors Band worked with a different conductor, but the concert performances were back-to-back) and if I closed my eyes, it was easy to imagine that these musicians were not 7th through 12th graders! They really excelled!
I am extremely proud of Zachary's initiative and musical abilities... and all the hard work he put into this performance. And, what an honor it was for him to perform at this historic landmark, on a stage that has been graced since 1926 by the likes of Tony Bennett, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Liberace, and John Philip Sousa, to name a few.
Thank you, Mr. Loest, for taking the time to invest in my son and the other members of the OMEA District 5 Honors Band. And, thank you to the many great music teachers and band directors, like our own district's Mrs. C., who teach and mentor our kids with a passion for music!
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