Consisting of 75 members, the Ashland County Junior High Honors Band includes seventh and eighth grade students from Ashland, Crestview, Hillsdale, Loudonville-Perrysville and Mapleton Middle Schools. Members of the Ashland County Band Directors Association meet with Leonard Salvo 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 21 and Sunday, March 24 to rehearse and present this program with music ranging from classical selections to traditional marches.
The 65-member Ashland University Concert Band will open the concert with a cameo program of wonderful but unusual music chosen especially to highlight the day. The Junior High School Honors Band will perform following the University Concert Band’s program.
Guest artist Jeff Neitzke, xylophone, will be featured with the Concert Band in "Rainbow Ripples." Neitzke is the Adjunct Percussion Professor at Ashland University and at Mt. Union College, and is also coordinator of the Canton Symphony Steel Band and Percussion programs. As a performer, Jeff has been a member of such orchestras as the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Akron Symphony Orchestra, and is currently the principal timpanist of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra. Jeff received his Bachelor’s Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Illinois under Tom Siwe and Bill Moersch, and his Masters Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Akron under Dr. Larry Snider.
The combination of these two bands and guest percussionist make for a rewarding, exciting and satisfying musical experience for both the performers and the audience. Admission is complimentary and a recording can be ordered.
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