5 Washington Middle School students made history by auditioning for the 2021 SEIBA JH/MS Honor Band. 4 were accepted into the prestigious honor band with one being named to the 8th grade IBA All-State band. This is not the first year WMS has had students audition or be accepted to this honor band, so how could this year be historic? Before that is explained, let's meet the students who auditioned and earned SEIBA Honors.
WMS students who auditioned were (in score order): Rita D on flute, Avery M on trumpet, Kate F on french horn, Claire W on trombone and Trevin S on tuba. Accepted to the SEIBA Honor band were: Rita D, Kate F, Claire W, and Trevin S. Accepted to the All-Iowa 8th grade IBA honor band was trombonist, Claire W. Only 2 trombonists from SEIBA are accepted to the IBA band.
In a typical year, SEIBA (SouthEast Iowa Bandmasters Association) Honor Band would have had their live auditions the first week of January in Fairfield. Students would have spent the day roaming the halls of Fairfield HS, hanging out in the noisiest practice room(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 listed 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 (at least 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 (one writing a commissioned piece) would then take place at Iowa City West HS 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/air over a longer period of time than most athletes at their events and typically in a more confined area. That might answer the question many have "why can athletics continue but not music?" Nobody sits the bench in music and other than percussionists, you can't mask up.
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/concerts postponed, canceled, or creatively done virtually. The 2021 SEIBA Honor Band was one of those events. Instead of live auditions, they decided to go with recorded auditions that would have to be submitted by January 15th. Auditions would include 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 adjudicated 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, February 1st. 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 8th grade All-State honor Band (usually in May at the IBA conference), has also been canceled. This is the long explanation of why these students made history even by auditioning for the SEIBA honor band. Congratulations to Rita, Avery, Kate, Claire and Trevin.
