Arts & Entertainment

SEIBA honor band accepts 17 students from PVHS to perform

Elise Johnson, Art and Entertainment Editor • February 9, 2020

The 2020 SEIBA honor band rehearsing for their upcoming performance in Iowa City.

Now that the All-State auditions are over, the time has come for the Southeast Iowa Band Association (SEIBA) honor band to take place. To perform in the SEIBA honor band is a coveted accomplishment to have. This year, 16 musicians from PVHS have been accepted into the SEIBA honor band, and one musician was accepted into the jazz band.

SEIBA honor band auditions are much like All-State auditions; they typically consist of two etudes the musician must try and perfect, a minute long solo the musician must perform, and two randomly picked scales — meaning they must memorize all 12 scales and all the different octaves. Overall, it’s a very stressful and time consuming process for a musician to partake in.

Sakshi Lawande, a senior clarinetist who made it into the SEIBA honor band, had much to say about the stress she endured while preparing for this audition, “because there’s so much we need to do to prepare for these auditions, we’re stressed months before we even get to the audition,” Lawande said. “It takes constant practice to prepare for this, so it feels good to know that the practice paid off.”

Auditions for the SEIBA jazz band, like the All-State jazz band, are much different than the regular SEIBA honor band auditions. Not only is the jazz band much harder to make it into, but the audition is not really something one can prepare well for. To audition for the jazz band, students must have a lot of natural talent and feel for music, as the audition consists solely of improvisation and sight reading. Although the idea of not being able to prepare for an audition can be scary to some, for the percussionist Jackson Schou, the audition was likely nothing to sweat. Schou made it through the SEIBA jazz band auditions and into the jazz band this year.

With SEIBA auditions being a very stressful and consuming process to take part in, all the students who made it through can know their time and dedication paid off. PVHS congratulates all of those who made it into the SEIBA honor band and jazz band.

The accepted PVHS musicians are listed below.

Flutes:

Catherine Moore

Kaley Peterson

Jun Oh

Daniel Marshall

Clarinets:

Jordan Mimms

Vishnu Challa

Sakshi Lawande

Trumpets:

Erika Holmberg

Saxophones:

Arsh Manazir

Horns:

Miranda Miller

Madison Brady

Libby Kamp

Euphoniums:

Harper Clark

Bassoons:

Jaden Logan

Percussion:

Jackson Schou (jazz)

Abigail McKay

Ben Curran

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About the Contributor

Elise Johnson, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Elise Johnson is a senior at Pleasant Valley High School, and currently counting down the days until graduation. In her near future, she will be attending the University of Iowa as a biology and chemistry student on the pre-med track in hopes to one day reach her lifelong goal of being a dermatologist. As she waits to pursue her dream job, she focuses on her other passion in life: music. Elise has played the tenor saxophone for 7 years, and has recently become a drum major for the Spartan Marching Band. She also played the viola in 4th grade, but was forced to quit when her mother told her to choose between orchestra and band. She hopes to one day avenge that moment in her life by relearning the viola in college and becoming the violist she always dreamt of being as a 4th grader. Some of her other goals for the future are to learn fluent Japanese, join the rowing team, and one day move far into the mountains where she can fulfil a life of peace and simplicity.