Class 3 District Band occurred on Saturday of January 18, 2025. The District Band performance was held at Southwest Baptist University. Fair Grove junior Lee Van Cleave was the only one of the Fair Grove School District to perform with the district band and compete.
To get into District Honor Band was a very long process that took a lot of effort from Fair Groves very own, Lee Van Cleave. To get into the District Honor Band they had to audition in November. They can either earn a spot in the concert band, or the honor band.
Honor band is known to play more difficult music that usually would not be played at a normal high school performance level.
When the students got to Southwest Baptist University they got to practice. Natalie Palomo, Fair Grove Band Director, stated, “They spend a full day rehearsing their music for the first time with the other band members, and then put on a concert in the evening!”
The entire day consisted of practice and preparation. Honor band also had to cancel a practice because of the snow and conditions of the roads. Van Cleave noted, “The band performed very well considering the practice was canceled due to snow. We learned four songs in one day and performed them that night.”
Vancleave and Palomo had amazing memories being a part of this experience. Palomo expressed, “The best part has to be hearing the concert at the end of the night, knowing the bands just put it all together hours before then. It’s always really impressive!” Van Cleave had a different experience with his favorite part. Van Cleave stated, “The best part of playing in the honor band to me was playing music from Star Wars Episode Seven: The Force Awakens. I love Star Wars and it was so cool to play the music from it.”
