Band students selected to ASBOA All-State Band
Pea Ridge High School band students traveled to Arkadelphia for the ASBOA All-State Honor Band auditions at Henderson State University Feb. 8. Three Pea Ridge students were selected to an all-state band.
Junior Morgan Humphrey was selected to the second Band, second Chair on flute; junior Layton Powell was named to third Band, second Chair on trumpet; and sophomore Taylor McCaslin was selected to third Band, eighth Chair on percussion.
Pea Ridge was the only 4A band in the state to have more than one student selected to an all-state band. Morgan, Layton and Taylor attended the ASBOA AllState Music Conference in Hot Springs Feb. 20-22. At the conference, each of these students spent approximately 14 hours in three days of rehearsals with their bands preparing for a concert that Saturday. They also spent time talking to representatives from all of the state colleges and universities discussing scholarships and learning more about the musical opportunities available to them at each school.
Each of the all-state bands have guest clinician/conductors. Morgan Humphrey, who made the all-state band last year, was able to work with Keith Bearden, professor emeritus at Texas Tech University. Layton Powell and Taylor McCaslin’s guest clinician was Jolette Wine from Fort Worth, Texas.
Also included at the allstate conference were two honor orchestras, two jazz bands and three choirs. This was an honor for these students to be selected to the all-state band and was the culmination of countless hours of preparation, private lesson study and practice from a prepared music list, memorization of major and minor scales and sight reading in the audition room. There are nine regions in the state, each of them qualifying approximately 107 students each to audition for the all state bands.