Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Greenville Middle School Concert Band Selected to Perform at the 2017 Ohio Music Education Association's Professional Development Conference.


Last May, the Junior High Concert Band, which will take on its new title of the Middle School Concert Band due to the opening of our new school in January, auditioned to be selected to perform at the 2017 Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference.

In July, Mr. McKibben, Middle School Band director, was informed that our very own Greenville Middle School Concert Band, will be one of the featured performing ensembles at the 2017 OMEA Professional Development Conference in Cleveland, OH on Thursday, February 2, 2017 at 12:30pm at the Huntington Cleveland Convention Center of Cleveland. According to the band's acceptance letter, over 150 schools/ensembles went through a blind audition process to be selected to represent the finest bands, choirs, orchestras, and small ensembles throughout the state.

Over the course of this semester, 7th and 8th grade band students will prepare for one of the most significant performances in the history of our band program. This is a tremendous honor. Our students represent some of the finest student-performers in Ohio, and typically performing groups are from the suburbs of Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, and Dayton or from Ohio' colleges and universities. It is truly an honor to represent one of Ohio’s rural school districts, and to be the first band from Darke County to be selected since 1997. According to O.M.E.A.’s Professional Development Webpage at omeapd.com, the Greenville Middle School Concert Band is one of thirty-six performing ensembles, which includes only fourteen concert and jazz bands, Greenville being the only middle school band.

The Concert Band will prepare six pieces of music for this performance. One of the selections is a commissioned work, or music composed specifically for our band and this special occasion. Composer and band director, Carl Holmquist, met Mr. Von Sas at a workshop last summer, and through that connection, Mr. McKibben and Mr. Holmquist embarked on a project to honor the Middle School Concert Band. The commission will be premiered at our performance in Cleveland and dedicated to the Greenville Middle School Concert Band.

The remainder of the program will include the following; a fanfare entitled “Olympia” by Brian Balmages, a programmatic selection that depicts a historic railway in the Pocono Mountains entitled “Dansbury Run” by Michael Sweeney, and a march is composed by John Edmondson that pays tribute to an American landmark and is titled “Mount Rushmore”. The program will also feature its trombone and tenor sax section with the catchy “Trombone Blues” by Andrew Balent. Our program will conclude with a setting of two Celtic folk songs which include the lush and beautiful “Red is the Rose” (or “Loch Lomond”) and “Bill Sullivan’s Polka”, in a work titled Celtic Air and Dance No. 3 arranged by Michael Sweeney.

The Greenville Middle School Concert Band is under the Direction of Mr. Brian McKibben with assistance from Mr. Erick Von Sas. Mr. McKibben is beginning his eighteenth year at Greenville and is the director of the GHS Symphonic Band, Middle School Concert Band, Sixth Grade Band, and teaches Fifth Grade Woodwinds. He assists with the GHS Marching Band and Wind Ensemble. Mr. Erick Von Sas is beginning his second year at Greenville and is the director of the GHS Marching Band of Pride, GHS Wind Ensemble, GHS Pep Band, and the Fifth Grade Band. He assists with the GHS Symphonic Band, Middle School Concert Band, and Sixth Grade Band.

There are expenses that are required to make this trip possible for our students. If interested in helping to offset these costs, please contact Mr. McKibben at bmckibben@gcswave.com or 548-3202. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

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