Competing at the high school level for a spot in a high school Southeast Iowa Bandmasters Association (SEIBA) honor band was a new challenge for Michelle Jennings ‘17, Levi Pugh ‘18, and Megan Bywater ‘19.

With the tough competition, Bywater wasn’t expecting to make SEIBA; only 14 flutes out of 70 made it into the honors band.

Jennings, a clarinetist, agrees.

“It was so close,” Jennings said. “I was last chair, so I barely got in.”

While Jennings and Bywater performed in the SEIBA concert band, Pugh was accepted into the SEIBA jazz band. Pugh, who had previously been awarded a chair in the middle school concert band, says that he prefers playing in the jazz band.

“I like the ability of expression in a jazz band,” Pugh said.

City High band director Dr. McReynolds decided to not take an active role in helping the musicians prepare, leaving them with more responsibility.

“I don’t really do much because it’s an individual honor group, the students really work on their own,” McReynolds said.

These three musicians know that preparation is important to having a solid performance. However, Jennings admits she had a hard time putting that knowledge into practice.

“I was kind of iffy about it because there was one song I didn’t start until two days before the audition.I was like, ‘Oh, I should probably start on that,’” Jennings said.

Jennings and Bywater both experienced complications on their audition day. Only 20 minutes before her audition, Bywater dropped and dented her flute.

“I didn’t know if I’d actually be able to play,” Bywater said.

Jennings had a similarly rough start that day. She forgot to bring her required score sheet into the audition room.

“I was so pumped and ready, and [then the judge] said, ‘You have your score sheet?’” Jennings said.

Jennings had to return an hour later to audition.

“By the second time I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m really nervous now.’”

The musicians received their music two weeks in advance and were able to come together and rehearse the day of the concert. Pugh thought the hours spent rehearsing were lively and productive.

“We had a lot of fun, but it seemed like when we had to buckle down, everyone was on board,” Pugh said.

Participants in both SEIBA bands rehearsed from 10:00am until 4:00pm with an hour and a half lunch break, and then had two hours of downtime until the 6:00 evening concert.

“The practice wasn’t as long as I thought it would be. It was like, ‘Oh I can do this,’” Jennings said.

Although Jennings enjoyed the time spent rehearsing, she enjoyed the concert most, the culmination of the SEIBA experience

“I’d say the concert was definitely the best part,” Jennings said. “We got to show what we had worked on all day.”

Pugh felt the audience response was positive, the solos were solid, and minimal directing was necessary.

“It was a very professional event and I liked that a lot,” Pugh said.

Director McReynolds enjoyed the concert as well.

“The music was very interesting, including a new commissioned piece,” McReynolds said.

The new piece, “Haunted Carousel,” by Erika Svanoe, was Jennings’ favorite.

“It sounded really cool, and we hadn’t played anything like it before,” Jennings said.  

While the concert band was playing new music, the jazz band was playing songs like “Goin’ On” by Count Basie, in which Pugh had a solo. Pugh was thrown into a brand new situation when he had to play two songs written by SEIBA jazz band director Dr. Bob Washut on the piano.

“The parts were written like he would play them, and so that’s always nerve-wracking– playing something that the composer wrote for himself– but I think I did a pretty good job adapting to that,” Pugh said. “He helped me with the parts that he wanted specific ways.”

Dr. Andrew Boysen was the conductor of the concert band.

“Instead of counting every measure of the music, he would count the first bar and then call it good,” Jennings said.

Although Boysen conducted more minimalistically, to Jennings he was a more expressive conductor than McReynolds.

“He got into the songs more, and he gave us more facial feedback,” Jennings said.

McReynolds agrees.

“The conductor was really exciting, lots of fun for students to work with,” McReynolds said. “[SEIBA] allows students to work with a different conductor each year, which allows them to have different insights and different perspectives on the music they perform.”

While Boysen’s style was a little different than McReynolds’, Washut gave “different” a whole new meaning.

“He would have us sing through our parts, and if we sang it wrong, we would have to play it,” Pugh said. “It was a really interesting dynamic.”

Although the auditions were stressful, Jennings thinks the experience of SEIBA was worth it.

“It was fun to do something different than just doing band during school,” Jennings said. “It was nice to get a change of pace.”

McReynolds believes SEIBA is a valuable experience as well.

“It gives them a chance to meet students across Southern Iowa who all share the same passion for band that they have,” McReynolds said.