Annual Middle School Honors Band Concert, Mar. 18

In Celebration of Music in Our Schools Month, Ashland University Department of Music will host the annual Ashland County Middle School Honors Band on Sunday, March 18, at 4 p.m. in Hugo Young Theatre. The Ashland University Concert Band will be the featured guest ensemble. Joseph Lewis Jr., Ashland University director of bands, will serve as conductor for both ensembles.

Consisting of 78 members, the Ashland County Middle School Honors Band includes seventh and eighth grade students from Ashland, Crestview, Hillsdale, Loudonville-Perrysville and Mapleton Schools. Members of the Ashland County Band Directors Association meet with Lewis and Ashland’s Martin Kral, this year’s chairman, to plan the program. The committee of band directors selects the honors band members based on merit and instrumentation needs of the band. Students meet at Ashland University on Thursday, March 16, and Sunday, March 18, to rehearse and present this program with music ranging from classical selections to traditional marches.

The 53-member Ashland University Concert Band will open the concert with a cameo program of wonderful but unusual music chosen especially to highlight the day including Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyries, Irish Tune from County Derry by Percy Grainger, Foundry by John Mackey, and J.P. Sousa’s The Black Horse Troop.

The combination of these two bands makes for a rewarding, exciting and satisfying musical experience for both the performers and the audience. Admission is free and open to the public.