by Jolie Jackson
From wearing bright red marching uniforms to formal concert black, the Friendswood Band is starting a new season.
Though marching season is over, students of the Friendswood Band are now competing as individual players, recently participating in the Region 17 audition process.
“The process is important because it teaches the students how to work on something for an extended period of time,” head band director Brett Nelson said. “It helps benefit them and grow as an individual player, building their individual skills and making our band program better.”
Students have been working on the audition music for months before the auditions.
“I practiced a lot before and perfected my music as best as I could,” junior Helene Ouyang said. “There were some factors I couldn’t change, like what room I was in, but practicing was a factor I could control.”
The auditions occurred on December 1, 2, and 4. Bigger instrument groups such as trumpet and clarinet had multiple phases to narrow down competitors.
“Phase two has overall better players than phase one, so the cuts are harder,” former all-state member Nathan Zheng said. “I was the best in my room phase one but fifth overall in phase two.”
The top players from Region 17 schools for each instrument attained a spot in the Region Orchestra and/or Region Band Clinic.
“The importance of the region clinics is the opportunity to meet other students from various schools,” Mr. Nelson said. “Music is the universal language, so being able to play and be with other students helps build friendships even outside of band.”
Some qualifying students are moving on to another round of the Region process called Area. These players will compete on a state-wide level on January 6 for the chance of an All-State spot in the week-long clinic.
“During All-State, we get free reign during free time and breaks to have fun with friends while still learning a lot during the week,” Zheng said.
According to Mr. Nelson, the band staff is proud of the students’ hard work.
“So far so good. Obviously we are greedy and want as many students as possible to make it, but we are very proud of everyone,” he said.
The students advancing to Area are Bryan Nguyen, Evan Yang, Adair Schultz, Balin Pugsley, Priscilla Orta, Ethan Yang, Helene Ouyang, Cort Koester, Ethan Wen, Shiv Malkani, Jacob Smith, Brayden Bailey, Owen Schaefer, Paul Podrebarac, Diane Husted, Sophia Schaefer, Rosalia Pacifico, Decian Chari, Nathan Zheng, Anthony Vesho, Camryn Thurman, Dalton McMahan, Nathan Zsvals, Jolie Jackson, Jeremy Gao, Braden Janak, Tyler Simmons, Cayden Torres, Lance Sitton, Jude Krancher, and Carolyn Chapman.
We wish the best of luck to those students advancing to Area and beyond!
