Sisters band travels to state

The Sisters High School Symphonic Band appeared as one of only 10 4A groups at the OSAA State Music Championships last Wednesday, May 13, at Oregon State University's LaSalle Stewart Center.

This was the group's 10th consecutive appearance in the annual event hosted by the OSAA, an accomplishment only a few schools have experienced in OSAA history.

"Getting invited to the state festival on an annual basis is a prestigious measure of the work our students are doing," said band director Jody Henderson. "Once meeting the qualifying criteria, our goal in attending is simply to play the best we are able to. All the groups qualifying for participation in the event present thoroughly prepared programs, in very competent fashion."

Max Stovall, an experienced upperclassman of the Sisters band, thought "the group played exceptionally well, especially with only part of the group getting daily rehearsal time in class."

Henderson explained, "Max's remark addresses the situation that the Sisters group meets as a class two consecutive trimesters, placing the entire band together as a whole for only one third of a year. In order to make up for the lack of being together as a class each spring, band students proudly put in dedicated time beyond the school day to make things happen."

After performing a prepared program, each band participates in a sight reading portion of the event, where the bands are asked to play a selection of music which they had never seen before.

"At a regional event earlier this year our students panicked in the sight reading situation," Henderson said. "However this time out, they played through the piece well and were able to walk away feeling good about their efforts."

In a closing ceremony of the event emphasizing the honor of participation, judging results presented respective top-five finishes to Douglas, Siuslaw, Cascade, Seaside and Astoria.