Dutchtown Band students perform with All-South Honor Bands

The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg was the place to be Sunday, Feb. 15 as over 250 high school band students from across the south performed with the 2009 All-South Honor Bands.

Students submitted audition tapes in December for this prestigious event, and upon arrival at USM, auditioned again for chair placement in the two Symphonic Bands and the Symphonic Winds Ensemble. Eight students from Dutchtown High School were chosen from over 400 submissions.

Performing with the first Symphonic Band were senior Derek James on Bass Trombone (first chair), and Daniel Candler on the Euphonium (second  chair). The conductor for the band was Dustin Seifert, trombonist and director of bands at Eastern New Mexico University.  The crowd favorite was a Wizard of Oz medley, which centered on “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” and the tuba section entertained the audience with their rendition of “If I Only Had a Brain.”

Students chosen to perform with Symphonic Band A were sophomore John Cleere, Tenor Sax (first and only chair); Armand Link, senior, Euphonium (first chair); Austin Lobell, senior, Alto Sax (third chair); and junior Royce Taylor on the Trombone (first chair). Conducting the band was Terry Austin, director of Bands and Professor of Music at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Those students that performed with Symphonic Wind Ensemble were seniors Josh  Bourgeois on Trombone (first chair), and Paul Patty on Trumpet (first chair). This band was conducted by Robert D. Jorgenson, director of  Bands and Professor of Music at Akron University in Ohio.

The 2009 All-South Honor Bands are made up of high-school band students from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia.

“The DTHS Band has consistently had students who have been chosen to participate in this prestigious invitational honor band,” said a school spokesperson.

The Dutchtown Sound is directed by Sheily Bell and David Holland, and assisted by LSU Student Teacher Alex Michaels.