Washington students qualify for honor band

WASHINGTON - Five students from Washington Middle School auditioned for the 2021 Southeast Iowa Bandmasters Association, with four being accepted and one being named to the eighth-grade Iowa Band Association All-State band.

Middle school students who auditioned were: Rita Du (daughter of Jing Wang) on flute, Avery Marner (daughter of David and Hanna Marner) on trumpet, Kate Flannery (daughter of Ryan and Diana Flannery) on French horn, Claire Wubbena (daughter of Grant and Diana Wubbena) on trombone and Trevin Sulentich (son of Mark and Glenda Sulentich) on tuba.

Accepted to the SEIBA Honor Band were: Rita Du, Kate Flannery, Claire Wubbena and Trevin Sulentich. Accepted to the All-Iowa eighth-grade honor band was trombonist, Claire Wubbena. Only two trombonists from SEIBA are accepted to the IBA band.

This year was unique for the students and provided additional challenges.

In a typical year, the SEIBA Honor Band would have had live auditions the first week of January in Fairfield.

Students would have spent the day roaming the halls of Fairfield High School, hanging out in the noisiest practice room - a gymnasium - or enjoying the cafeteria with their signature Nachos and other great concession stand food.

There would be a 5-minute audition at some point, then the wait to see if their name would be on the butcher paper streaming down from the gym walls for a recall audition.

If recalled, another short audition and then the entire cycle of gym, halls, cafeteria and waiting for final results.

It's a long day, but a day every musician who has ever gone through this process will remember, or at least remember the great nachos.

Those accepted to the honor band would see their name unveiled on the gym wall, then roam the halls once again to get a folder of music from workers next to the office. A concert festival with guest conductors would then take place at Iowa City West High School two weeks later.

It's a huge event, but in a pandemic world it just isn't possible when the participants are putting more out more vapors and air over a longer period of time than most athletes at their events.

Instead of live auditions, the SEIBA decided to go with recorded auditions that would have to be submitted by Jan. 15. Auditions included selected pieces or excerpts and select scales to be performed. A clock was to be visible in the recording to show the performances were not edited.

Current and retired SEIBA directors still judged as they had in the past, but did this at home. There were no recall auditions and accepted honor band lists were posted on Monday.

Students knew going into this that there would be no honor band festival, no folder of music and no performance for their family and friends. In addition, the eighth-grade All-State Honor Band has been canceled.

Despite the unique year, these students made history by auditioning for the SEIBA honor band.

In 2020-21, the music world has been hit hardest of all school activities. While athletic events have continued with mitigation and limited audiences for the most part, the music world has had to have rehearsals, events and concerts postponed, canceled or creatively done virtually.