On April 17 and 18, four selected members of the Saegertown Band, Kayden Astor, Dana Hudak, Rodney Turner, and Sophia Pacak, were chosen to represent their high school by attending the PMEA Junior Districts, which is through grades seven to nine. This year’s festival will be hosted at Sheffield Middle School, which is part of the Warren County School District, in Sheffield, PA. The two hosting conductors for this year’s festival will be Mr. Will Guess, the director of bands at Pine-Richland School District, and Mr. Michael Dingfelder, the elementary and middle school band director at Riverside Beaver County School Districts.
The songs chosen for the participating students to perform are “Salute to PMEA,” “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Kentucky 1800” (composed by Clare Grundman), “Midnight Escape” (composed by Larry Neeck), “Asian Sunrise” (composed by Barry Kopetz), Halcyon Hearts (composed by Katahj Copley), and “Spania” (composed by David Shaffer.)
The students’ schedule for April 17 contains this: 8:00-8:30 will be registration; 8:30-8:45 will be seating the band; 8:45-12:30 will be rehearsal, including a break at the director’s discretion; 12:30-1:00 will be lunch; 1:00-4:00 will be rehearsal; and 4:00 will be departing for home. For the 18th, 8:00-8:45 will be individual group photos; 8:45-9:00 will be the band on stage, including a full group picture; 9:00-12:30 will be rehearsal; 12:30-1:30 will be the banquet; 1:30-2:00 will be warming up and tuning; 2:00-3:00 will be the concert; and 3:00 will be departing for home.
Dana Hudak, one of Saegertown’s flutists in the Junior high band, was asked about her first time at the PMEA Junior District Band: “My time there was really fun! I learned a lot from my experience and that it’s important to always listen and watch for instructions. I also learned to not being afraid of meeting new people, since there were so many opportunities to meet new friends from my instrument section!”
As a participant myself, I am most excited for playing these special songs in front of tons of families and friends and, most importantly, putting hours of practice to good use to make teachers and conductors proud!
