CLASS D ALL STATE BAND
by Deb Jones
February 16, 2009
Twenty-two years ago, Rich Richards hosted the first annual
Class D All State Band Clinic/Concert which involved 142 students
from 37 schools across the state. The tradition continues as last
year, 165 students participated in Kearney. Each year, for many of
those years, students from Elgin Public have auditioned and been
accepted into this band. This year is no exception!
Students from Elgin Public auditioned by tape to become a member
of this year’s band. Two of them were accepted into the Wind
Ensemble - which is the TOP band that performs. They are Nathan
Niewohner on alto saxophone and Eric Shoemaker on snare drum. Eric
placed first out of all the drummers auditioning and Nathan placed
fourth in the sax section - something to be very proud of! There
were an over abundance of alto saxes and drummers that tried out
and many of them will not be participating at all. Eric and Nathan
will re-audition the day of the festival (using the concert’s
music) to determine who will receive the medal for first place at
the concert. Good luck to them!!!
The students will rehearse all day with all the members of the Wind Ensemble in March at the Fine Arts Building on campus of UNK. The conductor of the Wind Ensemble will be Linda Donahue, and Matt Shepherd will direct the Symphonic Band. The concert will be Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 6:30 pm in the auditorium of the Fine Arts Building. There will be an admission for the concert. We would love to see friendly faces from Elgin there! Congratulations to all these students - your hard work has once again paid off!!!
