This year, juniors Katie “Kai” Vo on flute, Reagyn Frazier on oboe, Emory Lundquist on bass clarinet and Mackenna Mendes on bassoon will be taking part in District Band to honor Marshfield. Anyone can audition and it is a simple process of learning how to play all of the songs and scales in the form. It is made up of some of the best band students all from our regional in Missouri into one band. However, it requires tons of practice that not everyone is willing to dedicate time for. 

Frazier, Lundquist and Mendes were all a part of the middle school honor band. They explain that this is a much different process, but did help prepare them for what they had to face for districts when auditioning. Instead of having to try out for it, the middle schoolers get nominated by the directors, and it does not give the opportunity to go all the way up to nationals like the high school program does.

In order to practice for this, Vo explains that she had been rehearsing ever since last semester and all throughout the summer, which seemingly paid off in the end while Frazier would spend 6 hours every weekend for 3 weeks until she felt prepared for the try-outs. 

“When I auditioned, I had a ton of down time and that honestly kind of stressed me out. I was the last person to audition not only for my room, but also for our school, so I felt this unneeded pressure on me. After I auditioned, I felt pretty good but realistically, I knew I probably wouldn’t make it. And then I did,” said Frazier.

With being able to be a part of this band, the musicians have hope that this accomplishment will push them further as instrumentalists and show them how all of these kids from many different districts and backgrounds can blend together in such a short amount of time. 

“I’m excited to see how every individual musician coexists with one another and being able to apply what I know to make a masterpiece with musicians all over the district,” said Frazier.