Band Concert Honors Area Middle Schools' Instrumentalists

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 20 at 4:00 p.m. in Hugo Young Theatre with the Ashland University Concert Band as the featured guest ensemble. Gary Ciulla, Ashland University Director of Bands, will conduct both bands.

Consisting of 85 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 Gary Ciulla and Crestview's Christopher Thompson, 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 17 and Sunday, March 20 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 including Clifton Williams' Caccia and Chorale, Frederick Fennell's arrangement of Florentiner, three movements of Claude T. Smith's Incidental Suite, and Yo Goto's arrangement of Funiculi - Funicula.

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