The Walla Walla University Music Department will host high school students from 14 schools throughout the Pacific Northwest, and from Central California and Tennessee, Feb. 6 to 9, for the WWU Honor Band Festival.

On Saturday, Feb. 9, the honor band will perform for second service at the University Church at 11:45 a.m. and again for a concert at 4 p.m. The music performed will be based on hymns with each piece from a different composer.

Participants in the honor band will meet for approximately 16 hours of practice on Thursday and Friday. “The participating students will have come to the Honor Band having put in many hours of practice so that they will arrive already knowing their music quite well. This will help us to be able to experience the most rewarding parts of rehearsals. Rather than trying to learn the notes and rhythms once they get here, we can start putting the music together and making music at a very high level from the very beginning,” said Brandon Beck, associate professor of music.

For the audition process, Beck chose excerpts from the most difficult pieces that will be performed. He required participants to prepare these excerpts and record themselves playing them, as well as all the major scales in multiple octaves.

The afternoon concert will be livestreamed at wallawalla.edu/concert.

Posted Jan. 5, 2019