Winning the Des Lee and earning a spot to play in the honor band is an amazing accomplishment that highlights musical talent and dedication. To be asked to play in the honor band is to showcase top-tier musicianship and ability to collaborate with other skilled performers. There were five performers from SCHS that were selected to play in the honor band: Jake Crossman, Connor Marvin, Will Moor, Maximilian Sheils, and Hunter Wells.
Maximilian Sheils is a junior who is one of the five players that was chosen for this incredible award. Sheils was very excited to be selected to be in the honor band. In the honor band he played the trumpet, which is the instrument that he played when he was a freshman. Winning this award shows how his time and dedication are paying off. Being selected out of the amount of people that are in bands shows how his hard work is paying off. He found it really cool to meet the band director and play at UMSL. Sheils would like to go into music education after high school, and this award is a great accolade and achievement to take on to college to show that he knows what he is doing and that he can play. He has advice for underclassmen who are aspiring to get this award.“Determination is key; you have to keep practicing, keep playing, and keep your mind on your goal. You can’t say, ‘no, I can’t do that.’ You always have to have the right mindset to achieve,” Sheils said.
Another one of the players that made it was junior Connor Marvin. Marvin was also so ecstatic about getting this award. In the honor band he played the Baritone Saxophone. He felt accomplished as a musician because he had worked so hard to get to this position. After he was selected, he was excited, but he knew that he had to get ready for the concert. To get to this point as a musician, he has had to work very hard and learn from others to get to the next level. In college Marvin would like to minor in a music major, and getting this award would help him pursue that. He also has advice for young musicians.
“Keep working hard and don’t let the little things set you back,” Marvin said.
Amanda Davis is the orchestra teacher and director at SCHS. For the selection, she picks juniors and seniors, and she first asks who would like to go because the day at UMSL is long, and she wants to make sure the kids are able to miss school. From there she picks her top 10 players, and then she sends that information to the coordinators. To prepare for this event, students practice during AIP and try to run through the music as much as they can.
This year was harder than years in the past to get ready for the honor band because there were so many snow days that they couldn’t work on the music as much at school. The kids had to do a lot of work on their own to get ready. The award is a great representation of how committed these students are to playing, and the students that get to play get a great sense of pride after playing because it is a great accomplishment.
