2017 marks the first year of hopefully many to come that Honors Band has taken place here at Juniata High School. Held on Friday, March 31st,  Honors Band, or Junior High Band, brought together students from grades 7-9 from across the county for a single day to practice and then perform several pieces of advanced music. This is something that Mr. Eargle, Mr. Himes, and Mr. Milliken, and the former two’s predecessors, have been trying to put together for many years. This year, they finally got to do it.

I’m not exactly sure how 7th and 8th graders were given the opportunity to be in this event, but 9th graders could either sign up, or, if you were like me, Mr. Eargle handed you a folder with music and said, “Here, you’re in Honors Band.” Students had approximately two months to work with six pieces of music. Mr. Himes held after school workshops for any student that wished to attend to work on the music. Mr. Eargle also held several morning practices for 9th graders who had sports practice after school (and anyone else that wanted to attend).

For anyone that is in band, you know how difficult it can be to practice a piece and make it sound wonderful, even when given a whole school year. For us, we only practiced as a group for a single day. Granted, we did start at 9:00 AM and went until about 5:30 PM, not stopping unless for lunch or 10 minute breaks. We practiced here at JHS on the auditorium stage, set up as it would be for the concert. Each seat, as well as having a stand in front of it, had a name placard and a pencil (which was our free gift from the day). We also were to bring the music previously given to us. Our behavior and conduct was held to high standards. The event may have only been a school-district-wide thing, but we were to treat it as if it were as prestigious as district or regional band. And if you think about it, it kind of was, since we all weren’t old enough to participate in the latter two.

Throughout the day, each director took turns instructing the group on the two pieces they had picked for the ensemble. We spent about an hour to an hour and a half on each piece, and it was pretty evident that the three directors had made up a schedule beforehand to follow. There were several newspaper photographers in and out during the day, taking pictures from different angles. And as the hours passed, everyone got more and more tired, but the humor and constant energy from the directors kept the mood light.

At 5:30, our time to practice was up. All of the students went up to the band room to eat dinner and change clothes for the quickly approaching concert at 7:00. Finally, the energy level was starting to increase. Directors took pictures of their respective students, and eventually everybody got situated on stage for a picture with all of the students and all three directors. We then went back to the band room to tune and make final preparations.

The concert itself, from the stage, at least, was magnificent. Being in the middle of the madness makes it all the more beautiful, all the more meaningful. For those moments that we performed these 6 songs for the audience, it felt as if we were an ensemble that had practiced together for several months instead of mere hours. When we were finished, we got a standing ovation, which led to a small encore of the song we’d just finished.

All in all, I think the concert made everyone feel extremely gratified and proud with the work they had done, not only that day but on their own in the previous weeks. I and my fellow students would like to thank Mr. Himes, Mr. Eargle, and Mr. Milliken for all of the work and time that they put into this event. Hopefully Honors Band will become a tradition here in the Juniata County School District for our young musicians to learn from and enjoy for years to come!

Enjoy the clip from our concert.