Contact: Margaret Kovar
STARKVILLE, Miss.--More than 200 high school musicians from throughout the region will converge on campus Thursday [Jan. 26] to participate in the 60th annual Mississippi State University Honor Band Clinic.
One of the oldest and largest in the Southeast, the three-day clinic was founded in 1953 by former music department head W. Thomas West.
"While on campus, students will take part in rehearsals and activities designed to give them some of the best experiences a university-level honor band clinic can provide," said Elva Kaye Lance, MSU director of bands. "This is among our largest recruiting events of the year."
Participants were selected from more than 300 students who auditioned in November for the clinic, which will have one jazz band and three concert band workshops.
Three free public performances also are scheduled, all in the McComas Hall main theater. They include:
--Thursday, 6:30 p.m., Honors Jazz Band and MSU Jazz Band;
--Friday [the 27th], 7:30 p.m., MSU Wind Ensemble;
--Saturday, [the 28th], 1 p.m., Honor Band final concert.
Myron Welch, Sallie White and Joel Mason are serving this year as guest clinicians.
Welch was the director of bands at the University of Iowa for nearly 30 years before his retirement in 2008. Over the long career, he was honored with the National Band Association's Citation of Excellence, as well as a selection as a Collegiate Fellow in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for his service and dedication.
White has played engagements with such well-known performers as Stevie Wonder, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Joan Rivers and Ray Charles. A full-time teacher at Hoover (Ala.) High School, she has received the Outstanding Jazz Educator Award from the National Band Association and the Outstanding Music Alumni Award from Anderson University.
Mason is the director of bands at Mountain Gap Middle School in Huntsville, Ala., where he teaches 170 students in both concert and jazz settings. He has served as adjunct tuba teacher at Middle Tennessee State University, Austin Peay State University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In addition to his work as a teacher and clinician, he also is a musician and conductor.
For more information about Mississippi State University, visit www.msstate.edu.
For more information about the 2012 clinic, contact Lance at 662-325-2713 or eklance@colled.msstate.edu.