Vicky Smith
Managing Editor
@pinkwritinglady
The Oklahoma Music Educators Association (OMEA) named six Cameron University students to the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Honor Band. The students attended the OMEA Winter In-Service Conference from Jan. 20-23 in Tulsa, where they participated in rehearsals for two days and then performed in the opening concert of the conference.
The students selected include clarinet player Mariama Abramson, trombone player Derik Daubenspeck, flugelhorn and trombone player Braden Hatch, percussionists Gus Echols and Tyler Reeves and euphonium player Kenneth Williams.
Cameron Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Matthew Mireles, Joye R. Lentz Endowed Chair and Director of Bands, is a member of the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Honor Band committee, which is responsible for selecting students for the honor band.
“The committee is comprised of all of the college band directors in the state,” Mireles said. “All the band directors come together, and we nominate students from our universities. … They get selected based on how well they play.”
Mireles said the students selected to be in the honor band come from different colleges to play together in a concert.
“It’s all of the top band students in the state come together,” he said, “so it’s basically like All-State Band – but for college students … It was a lot of fun because I get to see them [Cameron students] function with the rest of the group.”
Mireles said on the first day of the four-day convention, the students had to audition for a numbered “chair,” which is a rank based on how well students play in their particular sections.
“Kenneth Williams, who’s our freshman euphonium player, actually got first chair euphonium,” Mireles said. “That was awesome. He had a bunch of solos that he got to play during the concert.”
Mireles said after receiving their chair numbers, the students rehearsed extensively in order to prepare for the concert.
“The first day, there was a two-and-a-half hour rehearsal, then dinner, then another two-and-a-half hour rehearsal,” he said. “The next morning, [there] was a two-and-a-half hour rehearsal and then the concert, so it’s a lot of work.”
Freshman music education major Daubenspeck said he and the other Cameron students spent time practicing before they even left for the convention.
“We went over the repertoire together just so we all had an understanding of how it sounded and how it should be played,” Daubenspeck said, “and then we all had to go our separate ways and do our hours of practice time on it.”
Daubenspeck attended honor bands throughout high school, and he said his experience in the collegiate honor band was amazing.
“I’m a freshman, but most of them were seniors and juniors, so they’ve learned for years,” he said. “It was just so good to be in a band with so many talented people. We could all learn from each other.”
Likewise, freshman music major Williams said he learned how to play better within an ensemble.
“I learned so much from the conductor as well as from others in my section,” he said, “I made quite a few friends from the different universities in the state as well as met with some extraordinary musicians that performed with the professional groups.”
Senior biology major Abramson said she enjoyed hearing the music come together as the band rehearsed.
“From what it first sounds like when you all sit down together and play it to what it sounds like on the day of the concert when you play the concert – it’s really a big difference,” Abramson said. “It was really fun.”
While attending the conference with the students, Mireles had the opportunity to present a clinic on the topic “What’s Going on Back There? – Teaching Beginning Tuba and Euphonium,” as well as conduct a concert of the Frontier Brass Band.
“[The clinic] was geared towards beginning band teachers,” Mireles said. “I was giving advice and techniques on how to start kids the right way on a low brass instrument.
“[The Frontier Brass Group was] comprised of all of the brass professors at all of the colleges,” he said. “[They] came together and formed a band, and they chose me as the conductor.”
Mireles said he is looking forward to the Cameron University Concert Band’s next event, which is at 7:30 p.m. March 3 at the University Theatre. The band will be joined by Elgin High School Band and the Cameron University Concert Choir for a performance.
To view a full listing of upcoming events in the Cameron Music Department, visit http://www.cameron.edu/liberal_arts/SLAcalendar.