The 2012-2013 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Region V Band Festival took place at Bangor High School  where senior trumpet player Jeremy Sechrist and sophomore French horn player Anthony Stem performed as part of a 139 piece symphonic band  on Sunday, March 10.

The band was challenged to play music at a college level.

  Band Director Christian Poole was content with how the two students performed.

  “I think they did very well and were among the most prepared students there, ” Poole said.  “This was a very elite group for these students to make, and I am very happy with the effort and time they put into getting into this ensemble.”

  Students auditioned in the beginning of January and were given music to practice either individually or with the help of their band director. This festival was the first time that these students performed for an audience as a group. It was also the first time most of the students were under the direction of Dr. Peter Boonshaft who directed the festival.

  Stem felt the strain from working with a new group and conductor while preparing.

  “We got our music ahead of time and had to practice for a while with Mr. Poole’s help, ” said Stem. “The hardest thing would have had to have been performing with a new group that you have only practiced with a couple [of] times. It was also hard trying to get use to being under the direction of the a new conductor.”

  Following the concert, Thursday auditions to play at the state festival this year were held for students that played in the regional festival. At the festival, there will be two separate groups of students playing, the symphonic band and the wind ensemble.

  Sechrist was selected to be in the wind ensemble, which is the higher ranking group of the two. He was one of only two trumpets in all of York county selected to perform in this group.

  Sechrist feels a sense of accomplishment due to this recognition.

  “I was happy to get the opportunity to be in the districts and am so excited that all my work paid off in making it to states, ” said Sechrist.

  This festival will be held on April 17-20  at the Bayfront Conference Center in Erie PA.