Musicians earn positions in District Honor Bands
Seven Asheboro City Schools students have earned, through competitive audition, positions in the 2012 Central District Bandmasters Association All-District Honor Bands.
Erik Schultz, an eighth-grade trumpet player from NAMS and son of Doug and Meg Schultz, will participate as a member of the CDBA Middle School All-District Concert Band in a clinic and performance to be held February 10th and 11th at Eastern Guilford H.S. Erik is a student of Mr. Scott Benhart and studies privately with Adam White.
Six students from the Asheboro High School band program will participate in a clinic and performance to be held at Sanderson High School in Raleigh on January 27th and 28th. Adam White, senior trumpet player and son of Frank and Carmen White, and Dave Beitzel, senior trombonist and son of David and Crisanta Beitzel, will perform with the 11-12 All-District Wind Ensemble. This band is under the direction of nationally renowned conductor, Bob Bucker, recently retired from Western Carolina University. White and Beitzel both, as a result of their high audition scores, qualified to audition for the NC All-State Honors Band.
Patrick Lawrence, a sophomore trombonist and son of Reid and Rose Lawrence, will perform as a member of the 9-10 All District Wind Ensemble. The 9-10 Wind Ensemble will be under the direction of Mr. David Saleeba Albert, recently retired from Leesville Road High School and the former president of both the North Carolina Bandmasters Association and the North Carolina Music Educators Association. Sean Howard, a senior French Horn player and son of Ron and Donna Howard, Josiah Williams, a junior French Horn Player and son of Todd and Denise Williams, and Daniel Lee, a junior trombonist and son of Yang Ki and Mi Jeong Lee, will perform with the 9-12 Symphonic Band. The Symphonic Band will be conducted by Asheboro High School co-Director of Bands, Phil Homiller, as a result of his receipt of the 2010 Central District Award of Excellence. Homiller and Mrs. Suzanne Benhart are co-directors of the AHS band program. The 7pm concert at the Sanderson High School Auditorium is free and open to the public.
The Central District is comprised of counties from Randolph County, east to Wake County and all counties north to the Virginia border, including populous Orange, Guilford and Alamance. “What many people don’t realize,” says director Phil Homiller, “is that this is not an honor that is divided by conference or school size. These young people are competing against the best students from every school in the district, public and private, regardless of size. Our district bands are often comparable to the eventual all-state band, due to Wake, Orange and Guilford being part of our region. To make these groups is an incredible achievement and it is always astonishing what they are able to put together in a day and a half of rehearsal. To get the opportunity to actually conduct one of these groups is exciting and terrifying and is a very humbling honor.”