Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Band students get taste of the spotlight

Wood Middle School sends six students to the second annual Middle School Honor Band 2010

• By: Josh Kulla  
• Published: 3/2/2010 2:11:07 PM

Photo By: Josh KullaHonor band
Seventh graders Bricker Like (background) and Kyle Gustafson are two of six Wood Middle School students selected for a regional honor band.

Public events offering middle school students a chance to show off their musical chops are rare.

Molalla High School band teacher Matt Farris agrees with this. So a year ago, he decided to go ahead and create his own showcase for the best Clackamas County-area seventh and eighth grade musicians he could find. The first Middle School Honor Band concert and workshop, held last February at Cascade Middle School in rural Turner, featured 40 students, Farris said.

“There are not many events for middle school students,” he told the Spokesman. “I contacted many of the middle schools in the area and asked the directors to nominate five to 10 students that they thought would benefit from the event.”

Things went smoothly enough last year that Farris decided to hold an expanded version this time around.
The second annual Middle School Honor Band featured 64 students from eight middle schools, including Wilsonville’s Wood Middle School. A day-long rehearsal was followed by an Honor Band concert the night of Thursday, Feb. 11, this time at the Molalla River Civic Auditorium. Kevin Eagn, band director at West Linn High School, directed the concert, which featured “American Riversongs” by Pierre LaPlante, “Whispers from the Heart” by George Farmer, “Arabian Dances” by Roland Barrett and “March For Freedom” by Steve Hodges.”

Six Wood students took part in the event: eighth grader Tyler Branson, tuba, and seventh graders Josh Myer, clarinet; Abner Benjamin, alto saxophone; Kyle Gustafson, trombone; Bricker Like, trombone, and Rachel Hogan, percussion.

“We all nominated 10 or 12 people,” said first-year Wood Middle School band director Allison Bonn-Savage. “It was a really big honor for them to be around really good musicians.”

With nominations in hand, Farris then selected a final band, taking care to balance the various instruments during the selection process.

“I take all the nominations and create a well-balanced band,” he said.

The day started with an early bus ride from Wilsonville to Molalla. After an 8:30 a.m. start, rehearsals ran more or less constantly until 4:45 p.m. After a short break for dinner, students then went back to preparing for the 6 p.m. concert in the high school’s auditorium.

After the four-piece performance concluded, Bonn-Savage and her students re-boarded the bus back to Wood and home.

“They rehearsed for eight hours and played high school-level music,” she said.

The entire event was sponsored by Molalla High School and funded in part by a $20 musician fee. Farris hopes this will change for the better in the future.

“We don’t have a sponsor,” he said. “Molalla (High School) is the sponsor, and my parent group prepares the food.”

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