This weekend, Pleasant Valley band students took a trip to Fairfield high school to audition for the SEIBA honor band. Eighteen students were accepted into the concert band and one was accepted into the jazz band. First, students had to audition at the school at the end of November in order to audition at Fairfield because of the 32 person limit each school is held to. Students who were accepted as All-State alternates automatically made it through the school auditions. Students were given two etudes to play, as well as a one and a half minute solo of their choosing. During the audition, they were also asked to play two scales at random as well as the chromatic scale. For the jazz band, the students had to sight read and improvise during the audition, so there was no specific way to prepare for the audition.

Peter Mills, one of the trumpet players accepted into the jazz band, said it was nice because of the little preparation needed. “The jazz audition was nice because I didn’t really have to prepare at all. The only things in the audition are sight reading and improvising, so there’s no way to really prepare for it.”

Jenna Ruccolo, one of the accepted clarinetists, said auditioning for the concert band was a good challenge for her. “I wanted to audition to challenge myself musically,” Ruccolo said. “I’m excited to attend the band with my friends and meet others while getting to make music.”

Below are the accepted musicians to the SEIBA honor band. Congratulations to all the musicians who auditioned.

Clarinets:

Jenna Ruccolo

Amulya Pillutta

Shreya Khurjekar

Kaitlyn Ryan

Erin Woodford

Brenna Morley

Sakshi Lawande

Flutes:

Abby Melbourne

Emma Tews

Madeline Murphy

Percussion:

Vivek Joshi

Trumpets:

Kade Coudron

Peter Mills (jazz)

Saxophones:

Mark Kessler

Matthew Nelson

Trombone:

Gina Prosser

Tenor Saxophone:

Aman Manazir

Oboe:

Gabby Smith

Bassoon:

Veronica Henderson