All County Honor Band performs free concerts

MILTON — The All County Honor Band for middle and high school musicians will perform a free concert later this month.

The band, made up of performers from local schools after a county-wide audition process, is scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. Jan. 24 at Pine Terrace Baptist Church.

Logan Campbell, a 13-year-old honor roll student at Hobbs Middle School, along with classmates Averi Odom and Ciana Antonio made the county honor band.

Campbell, a clarinet player, also has the distinction of making the All State Honor Band. He performed with the state honor band at the Tampa Convention Center Jan. 11.

“Numerous band students from each school audition for these bands … (with) every student (playing) the same music based on their instrument,” said Gray Weaver, director of bands for the Santa Rosa County School District.

For All State Honor Band auditions, students are recorded in each district and those recordings are sent to a panel of adjudicators. The panel picks the top players in the state.

Weaver said auditions for the county band are held in November at Avalon Middle School. Students play for two judges, usually band directors from other districts. The live auditions are scored and players are selected based on that score.

The honor bands are divided into middle school and high school categories.

The state honor band members traveled to Tampa Jan. 9, and had 17 hours of group rehearsal prior to their 30-40 minute performance in front of a ballroom full of music educators, parents and other band students.

All members of the county honor band rehearse for two weeks at different school locations and have a dress rehearsal the morning prior to their performance.

“Admission is free and the public is invited to come out and enjoy performances by Santa Rosa County School District’s top instrumentalists,” Weaver said.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: All County Honor Band performs free concerts