February 5 - 8, 2009
Registration Deadline: November 26, 2008
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
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Festival Wind Ensemble Gary Green |
Festival Honor Band Scott Hanna |
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Festival Honor Band Nola Jones |
Festival Honor Band John Culvahouse |
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| Shades Valley High School Symphonic Band |
SVHS Directors David Allinder and Greg Gumina. |
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| North Springs High School Wind Ensemble | NSHS Director Dennis L. Naughton |
INDEX
About The Alabama Honor Band
Packet Information (coming soon)
The Honor Bands
2009 Conductors
The High School Guest Ensembles
Scholarship Information
Selection of Participants
Housing/Meals/Fees
The Twenty-fourth Annual Alabama High School Honor Festival will be held at the University of Alabama from February 5 through February 8, 2009. The Alabama Honor Band Festival is an event developed for the purpose of recognizing the achievements of exceptional high schol musicians. As in previous years, we award Alabama Concert Ensemble Participation Scholarships, Million Dollar Band Participation Scholarships. Both music majors and non-music majors are eligible for these awards. We will also award one School of Music Full-Tuition Scholarship (see Scholarship section below), which will be available to a student majoring in music.
The festival weekend will include clinics presented by the faculty of the University of Alabama School of Music and concerts prsented by the Alabama Symphonic Band, the Alabama Wind Ensemble and the “SPECTRUM” concert, which features several of our wind and percussion ensembles as well as the 400 member Million Dollar Band. We will also present two outstanding high school ensembles in concert, along with the four festival honor bands.
PACKET INFORMATION (pdf files mailed out)
2009 Honor Band Poster (coming soon)
2009 Inroduction Letter (coming soon)
2009 Student Instructions (coming soon)
This year, we will seat four honor bands at the festival. The Festival Wind Ensemble will be a smaller group made up of the top chair winners. The three Festival Honor Bands will be made up of equal strength musicians. Students will be placed alternately in the festival honor bands. Our staff feels that this provides the best experience for all participants.
Conducting the 2009 Festival Wind Ensemble will be Gary Green, from the University of Miami. Our four Festival Honor Band conductors include John Culvahouse, Kennesaw (GA) State University, Scott Hanna, University of Texas, and Nola Jones, University of Tennessee-Martin.
THE HIGH SCHOOL GUEST ENSEMBLES
This year, we are pleased to welcome the North Springs (GA) High School Wind Ensemble, Dennis L. Naughton, director and the Shades Valley (AL) High School Symphonic Band, David Allinder, conductor to our campus as our featured high school ensembles.
THE ALABAMA HONOR BAND FULL TUITION SCHOLARSHIP
A full tuition scholarship will be awarded at the final Festival Concert on Sunday to a qualified student. This award is based upon a superior level of performing ability as evidenced in the student’s Honor Band placement audition, band rehearsals and the recommendations of the auditioning faculty members and conductors. No additional audition is necessary. The Alabama Honor Band Full Tuition Scholarship pays all resident or non-resident tuition and academic fees for four years and is limited to music majors. It does require participation in selected University of Alabama ensembles.
ALABAMA CONCERT ENSEMBLE PARTICIPATION SCHOLARSHIPS
These scholarships, in varying amounts, are awarded to incoming students whose standard of performance is commensurate with membership in the University of Alabama cocert ensembles (Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band) and who have a sincere interest in concert band performance. These awards are based upon a superior level of performing ability as evidenced in the student’s Honor Band placement auditin, band rehearsals and the recommendation of the auditioning faculty members and conductors. The Honor Band Chair Placement Audition is used to qualify students for these awards. No additional audition is necessary. These awards are available to qualified students regardless of major.
MILLION DOLLAR BAND PARTICIPATION SCHOLARSHIPS
Senior participants of the Alabama Honor Band will also be considered for a Million Dollar Band Participation Scholarship. These scholarships, in varying amounts, are awarded for the fall semester with the understanding that the student participates in the Million Dollar Band. These awards are based on talent and the instrumentation needs of the Million Dollar Band, and the awards are renewable for up to four years. The Honor Band Chair Placement Audition is used to qualify students for these awards. No additional audition is necessary. These awards are available to qualified students regardless of major.
Students will be selected by a committee of University of Alabama School of Music faculty. Information included on the student application and the band director’s recommendation will be the primary criteria used to slect participants. Each director who submits a nomination is guaranteed that at least one student from each school will be selected to participae in the festival. A list of students chosen to participate in the 2009 Alabama Honor Band Festival will be posted on this website by December 15, 2008.
The Alabama Honor Band does not provide housing or meals. Arrangements for housing, supervision, transportation and meals should be taken care of by the high school director. Those chosen to participate will be required to pay a $75.00 participation fee which includes admission to all clinics, concerts and includes a Festival Participation Medal. Much more detailed information will be available to those students selected to participate in the festival.