Pierce Students Attend WSC Honor Band

February 01, 2016

Pierce Students Attend WSC Honor Band
by Levi Sudbeck

Traveling to Wayne, a selected number of students from Pierce went to Wayne State College to perform some songs in the WSC Honor Band on Saturday, January 30.

To be able to attend Honor Band at Wayne, students had to create a recording of themselves playing a certain song. Once the audition was done with their best playing skills, Mike Sindt, Pierce’s Band director, sent the auditions to Wayne to see if they earned a chair at the festival. At this Honor Band, students from junior high and high school could attend. Pierce had three junior high students and nine high school students earn a chair.

The junior high students who attended were Shawn Rinkel playing the trumpet, Kyler Peters on the horn, and Mason Sindelar with the trombone. The high school students that got to play at Wayne were Ellie Peters playing the flute; Katrina Meier on the oboe; Stephanie Rinkel and Kiley Bierman playing the clarinet; Devin Kerber with the baritone saxophone; Taylor Williams, Abbey Sedlacek, and Jacob Pederson all on the trumpet; and Dylan Delka playing battery percussion. Although 12 students were chosen to go, only ten had the chance to attend. The two students that couldn’t attend were Kerber from illness and Sedlacek who had a basketball game on Saturday. The day was filled with rehearsals, and at the end of the day the students performed their songs.

The junior high played “Flight of the Thunderbird” by Richard Saucedo, “Rippling Watercolors” by Brian Balmages, “Highland Legend by John Moss,” “The Thunderer” by Andrew Balent, and “Diamond Joe’s Riviera Club” by David Weirich. This band was conducted by Carrie Jensen from Wayne Community Schools.

The high school students played “Steel” by Randal D. Standridge, “At Morning’s First Light” by David Gillingham, “Joy Revisited” by Frank Ticheli, and “King Cotton” by J.P. Sousa. The high school conductor was Brady Rohlfs from Waverly High School

Pierce High’s conductor Mike Sindt said, “The day went great. The students had a fun time, and the concert sounded fantastic.”