Four students at Richmond Hill High School were recently selected as members of the Georgia Music Educator’s Association All State Band.
Kathryn Hester, Emily Fischer and Emma Morris were selected out of hundreds of student musicians across the state according to RHHS Band Director Danny Kiene. Sean Hardy was also selected as an alternate, Kiene added.
Kiene, who compared the honor to being selected for an all star team in sports, said he was thrilled that four RHHS students were selected.
“I was extremely proud of them,” Kiene said. “They are consistently great students and all four of them are great role models for the younger students coming behind them.”
In addition, Kiene said 31 students in the RHHS band of around 120 were selected to the Georgia Music Educators District Honor Band. Kiene said this is a “huge number” of students compared to area schools that usually have from one to five students selected.
“I am also extremely proud of the 31 students from our program who performed recently in the GEMA district honor band,” Kiene said. “I am so happy that music means enough to these kids and their parents to prepare these auditions and perform in these amazing groups.”
Similar to the All State Band, the GEMA District Honor Band is made up of the best student musicians in the area. Bryan County is included in district 1, Kiene said, along with Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham, Tattnall and others.
“These students are creating art and they are the students that are consistently scoring higher on standardized tests, having great successes in school and receiving scholarships in music,” Kiene said.
To be selected as an All State Band member, Kiene said the students go through a two step audition process. The first audition is at the district level where students perform a set audition including major scales, prepared musical passages and sight reading very difficult music they have never seen before, he said.
After scoring high enough in the first round of auditions, the students are invited to a second audition where they perform more difficult prepared musical pieces, Kiene said.
Students selected to the District Honor Band are chosen from the first All State Band auditions, Kiene said.
Though Hester, Fischer and Morris performed Saturday with the All State Band at the Savannah Civic Center, Kiene said all bands in district 1, including Bryan County, will perform throughout this Thursday-Saturday at Armstrong Atlantic State University.
For more information, visit www.richmondhillhighschoolband.com.