The Pleasant Valley Marching Band is the largest in the state; with over 330 members, many are involved in band along with several other activities. With so many students involved in the band, there are several high-achieving students who are looking for extra opportunities beyond the school band. Luckily, there are many honor bands that several universities and organizations offer to the band students.
The most well-known honor organization for any student involved in orchestra, choir, and band, is Allstate. This is the most rigorous group to get into, as there are several auditions that one must go through to become an “Allstater”.
First, a student must sign up for a school audition, as schools are only allowed to send 10% of their band. Often more students want to go, and thus many are already cut from the audition process. After around 30 students are chosen, those students must go to an audition site in their respective district. Iowa is divided into 6 districts, and Pleasant Valley is located in the South-Eastern district. At the audition site, around an hour away, students must dress up and audition for a judge.
“Allstate is a super tough experience due to the environment you are in,” says Keshav Wagle, PV senior. “Sometimes you are up against same people over and over again, and it is all based on a 10 minute audition. The most important thing is to not let it get to you.”
It’s a very selective band, with only a few students making it past this audition. Those students that do achieve this spend a weekend preparing and then performing a concert in Ames, Iowa. After this, they are honored with a plaque and a picture on a wall in a hallway at PV.
After Allstate, in January, there are auditions for the SEIBA (Southeastern Iowa Band Association) honor band. This honor band consists of only students from one district of Iowa, so it is generally easier to get into. The audition process is similar to the Allstate audition process, with a school and then a district audition. However, the concert is located in Iowa City instead of Ames, and students who made it into Allstate are not permitted to audition for this band.
SEIBA and Allstate are the two major honor groups offered by the school, as they both require an audition and are sponsored by IHSMA (Iowa High School Music Association). Aside from those two, there are other bands that do not require an audition, often sponsored by universities around the state. To take part in this band, students must fill out a form provided by the band directors with different information regarding past honor band attendance and different achievements, along with certain pieces of music that they have played. Then, the band directors forward this information to the universities so that they can choose the students who are accepted.
The largest honor band sponsored by a university is UNI’s Northern Festival of Bands. This honor band takes place in mid-February, and is spread over a weekend. When students arrive at UNI, they must audition with band music that they are sent earlier. After they are finished auditioning, they receive a chair placement based on how well they did. Then, they go through several rehearsals over the weekend, finally ending with a concert in which family members and friend are invited to watch.
“The UNI honor band is definitely one of my favorite honor bands that I’ve been to. Since you stay over for two nights in Cedar Falls for it, you get to spend a lot of time with your friends in between rehearsals at meals, and doing other fun activities.”, says Brenna Morley, PV sophomore.
Many students compare Allstate to the UNI honor band, stating that each has their own benefits.
“I would say that UNI is better than Allstate because it is more relaxed,” says Morley. “Also, the UNI rehearsals are not quite as long as the Allstate rehearsals, and there are more students from your school that go to UNI honor band than Allstate.”
Other university honor bands include the Augustana Honor Band, and the University of Iowa’s Hawkeye Band Festival. These process to make it into these honor bands is similar to UNI’s; however, UNI is usually considered more rigorous as many more students apply for it. This year, UNI added a third band to the Northern Festival of Bands, allowing more students to take part in it.
The purpose of honor bands and ensembles is not to simply make it into the toughest one; it’s all about learning and becoming better at one’s instrument. PV offers these honor bands to fulfill this purpose, and they often do help the student grown musically.
