South Central Missouri Music Educators Association (SCMMEA) District Band is made of students from the south central area. Students audition and may be selected to be part of the band.
Auditions were held in November and Lee Van Cleave (10) was the only student this year to be selected to play in this band. This will be his second year being selected for this band. Van Cleave stated that, “It feels good to make it into the SCMMEA district band since it is a challenging thing to do. I was compared to all trombonists from this district and in highschool, even seniors from huge schools.”
The band will get together one time to practice their music before they perform it. Natalie Palomo, the high school band director, said, “The students who get into a band then receive music and will meet once before their concert to prepare for it. It’s a high level group that lets kids play at a higher level.”
Palomo explained, “This band pushes students. The music tends to be more challenging than the music I’m able to pass out to the band here, and since it’s audition-based, it’s a competitive format to even make it into the group. It lets my stronger players shine a bit and have ways to push themselves still when they may not have as many opportunities for that at Fair Grove.”
Students who also play on a higher level find this to be a fun challenge to them. Or to overall improve themselves. “I wanted to audition for the band because I know it is one of the best ways to get better at music. The tryout packet for the band consists of incredibly difficult music that learning how to play made me a much better player,” Van Cleave stated.
Palomo continued with advice she would give her students who were thinking about auditioning. “I tell my students that auditioning is a great idea if they’re looking for a way to challenge themselves beyond what our band can do,”
Palomo added, “If students would like to play harder music, and in a more competitive setting than what we can offer at our school, this is a way to challenge themselves and potentially be able to be a part of a band significantly larger than what our band is.”
The district band concert performed on January 13 at Nixa High School.
