The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Sisters High School band students are striving for big things this fall. Four students from Tyler Cranor’s band class at Sisters High School (SHS) were selected as honor students for the annual Western International Band Clinic (WIBC) in Seattle, Washington this past weekend. There were over 400 students in attendance from high schools and universities from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

Students are required to submit a recorded audition tape on their instrument to be considered for attendance. Eight SHS students from Cranor’s band class auditioned and four students were selected. Dominic Martinez, Stepan (who goes by Styopa) Myagkov, and Hollie Lewis were the three students in attendance at the event. Grace Grimes was selected as an alternate but did not attend the event.

This year, WIBC hosted four high school honor bands, a college honor band, director clinics, concerts, and more.

Martinez and Lewis were both on trumpet for the event and Myagkov played tenor saxophone.

“The event is the largest honor band program in the western United States, bringing students together to form bands for performances throughout the weekend’s event,” said Cranor.

Students received music from famous international composers, giving them the opportunity to learn more advanced musical numbers.

Student bands were put together at the program event with a variety of students from different band programs from around the nation. They rehearsed all day Saturday and Sunday and performed in front of a live audience on Monday.

“The event brings in guest conductors from universities from around the area to conduct the bands in performance,” said Cranor. “There are also huge, big-name composers in attendance and that gives the students an opportunity to get exposed to some big-name composers at a young age,” said Cranor.

Not only do the students make connections with each other, the teachers and band instructors get to come together and form their own band for the weekend.

“It is a great opportunity for all the band teachers to get together and we work in clinics and bring instruments and so we get a lot out of it too,” said Cranor.

“It is a really awesome educational experience overall, it’s not competitive, it’s the very best high school musicians coming together,” said Cranor.

“It is a really incredible honor to be selected after auditioning,” Martinez, a junior at SHS, told The Nugget.

“As a middle school band student, I always looked up to older musicians who got to go out and do these things like honor band and I can’t believe that I am in their shoes at that level; it’s just insanely awesome.”

Martinez plans to continue to pursue playing the trumpet in college.

Hollie Lewis, a senior at SHS, also went to WIBC playing the trumpet.

“It’s a huge honor to be chosen for this event and to go play with some of the best high school musicians on the west coast. It was an honor to go up there and play this weekend and represent, especially as a senior and my last year playing at Sisters High,” said Lewis.

Myagkov, a freshman at SHS, has been playing for four years in the middle school band and on his own.

“I am really excited to be in Seattle for WIBC, and I think it is a great opportunity, especially coming from a smaller school,” he said.

He plans to continue to pursue the tenor saxophone in college after high school band.

For more information about WIBC, visit http://www.bandworld.org.