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Washington Evening Journal
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Many musicians make mass band
Retired MPCHS Band Director Jim DePriest leads four schools in the 2024 Southeast Iowa Super Conference Junior High Mass Band Festival
WINFIELD — Winfield-Mt. Union welcomed junior high band students from three Southeast Iowa schools Tuesday, April 23 for a day filled with hard work, music, and fun which concluded with a mass band performance.
“Good evening and welcome to the 2024 Southeast Iowa Super Conference Junior High Mass Band Festival,” Winfield-Mt. Union Director Lindsey Pogmore welcomed those attending the evening performance.
According to Pogmore, band students from Winfield-Mt. Union, New London, Danville, and Wapello all gathered for the SEISC Junior High Mass Band Festival in which students worked together for hours to create one cohesive band for an evening performance. Before reaching the pinnacle of the festival, though, each school band performed a song independently.
As hosts for this year’s festival, WMU students kicked the evening off with “Born to Be Wild” under Pogmore’s direction. After performances from each of the other schools, the mass band filled in and showed off their hard work from the day under the deft leadership of former Mt. Pleasant High School Band Director Jim DePriest.
“I really appreciate getting the chance to be here today,” DePriest said. “Thank you very much. Thanks for asking me to come.”
DePriest worked with the combination of students throughout the day of the concert and commended them for their hard work.
“They never lost their focus,” DePriest said. “They never lost their commitment.”
He commented that they improved through their four-hour long practice, and it showed through their performance of “The Smithsonian Suite,” which they played to kick off the mass band portion of the festival performance.
“[The Smithsonian Suite], is basically a review of some of the museums in Washington, D.C.,” DePriest explained. “I was telling the kids today that one of the commitments we made to our kids back in ’92 in Mt. Pleasant was that every kid in this program was going to perform and get a chance to see the nation’s capital. So, we went to Washington, D.C. I don’t know how many times, I lost count.”
DePriest stated that the four tunes in the suite reflect four different museums: The Museum of Natural History, The National Museum of the American Indian, The National Museum of African Art, and The National Air & Space Museum.
The mass band concluded the SEISC Junior High Mass Band Festival as DePriest led them in “Shut Up and Dance.”
Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com
