Tri-County band students stay busy, earn honors

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Tri-County student Emily Barth holds her french horn at the Minnesota Band Directors Association state level honor band event for grades ninth and tenth, held on April 9 and 10 in Edina, Minn.

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Tri-County sophomore Emily Barth sits with her french horn while attending the Minnesota Band Directors Association state level honor band in Edina, Minn., on April 9 and 10.

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Tri-County sophomore Emily Barth played in this performance space at Edina High School as part of the Minnesota Band Directors Association state level honor band for grades ninth and tenth, an event held on April 9 and 10.

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Tri-County elementary band students (L-R): Rhett Pearson, Christine Hanson, Faith Efta, Cale Pearson, and Eli Klegstad performed in the Minnesota Band Directors Association Northwest Area Honor Band concert at the new Horizon Middle School performance theater in Moorhead, Minn., on April 23.

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Emily Barth, a sophomore french horn student, and Lydia Hanson, a freshman clarinet student– both of Tri-County– performed a duet to the piece titled “Bouree” by Handel, a performance earning them an Excellent certificate at the Instrumental Ensemble contests held on March 29 at Tri-County.

Within the last month, various Tri-County band students of all levels have stayed busy and earned some honors.

Two Tri-County band students participated at the Instrumental Ensemble contests held this year on Tuesday, March 29 at Tri-County— marking the first time in three years that the contest has been held. The duet consisted of Emily Barth, a sophomore french horn student, and Lydia Hanson, a freshman clarinet student. They worked hard and represented our school very well, according to Tri-County instrumental music teacher Brad Thompson.

Both earned an Excellent certificate for their performance of “Bouree” by Handel. Their efforts have helped improve the abilities of the entire band and will help develop future leaders who will continue to strive for excellence in the band program.

As for Barth, she was selected to perform in the Minnesota Band Directors Association state level honor band for grades ninth and tenth, held on April 9 and 10. The audition was a challenge and Barth worked on it for several weeks and recorded it with Mr. Thompson in January. Students were selected based on their performance of this audition and were notified in late February.

The state level honor band is comprised of all the best players in the entire state of Minnesota! Every region has the opportunity to submit auditions for this group. Barth is the first person to audition for this prestigious group.

The event included an entire weekend of rehearsals beginning on Saturday and a performance on Sunday afternoon. Barth worked on her parts for several weeks with the help of her private horn teacher and Mr. Thompson. The event was held in Edina, Minn., so Barth stayed with family and attended the honor band immediately following the FCCLA state level events, held Wednesday through Friday. She was incredibly busy representing Tri-County during that week, according to Thompson, and she did Tri-County proud!

Some elementary band students also earned an honor of their own. Five Tri-County elementary band students were selected to perform in the Minnesota Band Directors Association Northwest Area Honor Band. They were given the music several weeks ago and learned it with Mr. Thompson’s help.

On Saturday, April 23, they left Tri-County at 5:30 a.m. and traveled to Moorhead, Minn., to rehearse all morning and gave a concert at noon at the new Horizon Middle School performance theater. The fifth graders and sixth graders each rehearsed in their own band of 75 students from 30 different schools in the region.

According to Thompson, the students did a great job representing the Tri-County band program by playing well and demonstrating great poise and character! Students involved in fifth grade were: Christine Hanson, clarinet and Rhett Pearson, percussion. Students involved in sixth grade were: Eli Klegstad, trombone, Cale Pearson, trumpet, and Faith Efta, trumpet.