Thirty band, orchestra and choir students received status as District Honor students after their District auditions on Nov. 12.  District Honor is sponsored by the Northeast Kansas Music Educators Association (NEKMEA).

Those who qualified in those auditions participated in a NEKMEA mini-conference on Saturday, Dec. 3. There the students worked with clinicians and gave a concert on complex music pieces selected by the organization.

The band students who received the honor were seniors Lucas Wilison, trumpet; Hank Lancaster, tuba; juniors Jill Dwyer, flute; Emanuel Okwuone, concert bass clarinet; Andrew Oberholtzer, Anna Ross, French horn; Noelle Slanc, oboe; and sophomores, Jenna Stokes, flute; Jeremy Kuehnun, french horn; and Flynn Hemenway, tuba.

The orchestra students were seniors Rachel Haake, cello; Andrew Rames, bass; and juniors Emilie Giles, violin; and Nathan Erikson, viola.

The choir students who qualified for District were seniors Miriam Ward, Kaeli Whitener, sopranos; Erin Cantrell, Kathryn Sommers, altos; Andrew Allen, tenor; Caden Toomay, Mitchell Perez, basses; junior Ashlynne Bowles, soprano; junior Brittany Taylor, alto; Chase Simmons, Kyle Kersten, tenors; Kyle Kersten, Chase Simmons, tenors; David Swanson, bass; sophomores Maya Burke, Haley Johnson, tenors; Jordan DeLeon and Jonathan Swanson, basses.

The pieces the students auditioned with are college level or professional pieces, and the judges find the select few who can play these pieces well. The complexity of the pieces are so high because the students are auditioning for a band that is “definitely a notch above, in terms of players from top to bottom, which is going to be stronger than what they play in here at school,” Chad Coughlin, band director, said.

The District auditions were at Olathe South for orchestra, at Blue Valley High School for band and at Shawnee Mission Northwest for choir.

Band and orchestra students who made District have now qualified to audition for All-State on Jan. 7.  Those who qualify for All-State will have work with a clinician at the KMEA state conference in Wichita on Feb. 23-25. Choir students auditioned for All-State when the auditioned for District.

The District and All-State auditions are to recognize individual musicians, but the state convention will also feature select group performances.  Olathe South’s Jazz Ensemble and the Horn Choir were selected to perform after a review of recordings of their work last spring.