SHAMOKIN -Three Shamokin Area High School seniors have earned the honor to play in the District and Region Band Festivals, while two also received the honor to play in the upcoming All-State Band Festival April 16 in Hershey.
Kasi Ristine, euphonium, and Mike Kleman, contra alto bass clarinet, made all three honors, while Ristine also received the PMEA District 8 Music Scholarship, and Alex Wolf, alto clarinet, made both district and region band.
Kleman attended District Jazz Band in Mount Carmel this year as well.
In order to attain these honors, the students said they practice multiple times a week. They take home their instruments on weekends, stay after school sometimes as late as 4 p.m. and dedicating any free time they have throughout the day, including study halls to fine tuning their performances.
All of this practicing is coupled with the stress of balancing other activities such as school work and part-time jobs. Ristine added that she is also involved with the school musical, which is Little Shop of Horrors this year.
"I would have to leave practices early to get to work on time," Wolf said.
All of these students had made it to regional level last year, but none had reached the state level until now.
Ristine and Kleman have qualified for region band since their sophomore year.
This year, the District Band Festival was held at Troy High School in Troy, and the Region Band Festival was held at Central Columbia High School in Bloomsburg.
Kevin Styer, SAHS band director, said that reaching the state level is the highest honor his senior students can achieve and compares the honor to a wrestler attending states.
"It's individual and not a whole team," he said. "They have to work just as hard."
Although most of the advancement is individual, the students have to practice to learn their parts so they can they play cohesively with all musicians at the festival.
Once they qualify in the region, then state level, Styer said that he doesn't push the students as hard.
"They are going to know all the parts, but it's a different level and they're just fighting for a chair placement," he said. "They can't advance on to the next level since they would need to be sophomores and that is by a selection process."
While Kleman and Wolf have been playing since 4th grade, and Ristine only since 10th grade, their hard work over the years has paid off as they plan to continue their love of music after high school.
Kleman said that he plans to move to Texas after high school, where he will have a full-time position once he turns 18 years old, but hopes in the future to attend a technology school for computers and later for more music schooling. Wolf is undecided at this time, but still plans to stick to playing music.
Styer added that there are a lot of opportunities such as community bands and college bands, but they will need to search for them.
Ristine has received the PMEA District 8 Music Scholarship. She plans to attend West Chester University for a degree in music education.
To apply for the scholarship she had to submit an application and write an essay.
Styer said that a committee looks at the student's GPA, essay, activities and groups they participate in that goes into a point system, and at each district festival they award the scholarship to a student.
As the band students finish their final school year and move on to bigger and better things, new students will need to take their places, but worries loom about the schools decisions regarding the state budget.
"They're starting budget cuts so we've got to promote the kids that are doing other activities," Styer said.
With the state budget aside, having had eight student musicians qualify for these honors last year and three this year, Styer is confident the talent will always be around.