NORFOLK, Neb. – HAWKFEST is more than recognizing outstanding high school musicians. It’s about providing inspiration and making new friends who share a love of music.
The annual honor band and honor choir at Northeast Community College features some of the best high school musicians in Northeast Nebraska. This year’s event took place on Monday, Oct. 7, culminating with an evening concert at the Lifelong Learning Center after rehearsing all day.
This year’s event included about 100 students from 21 schools, with students from as far south as Shelby-Rising City and David City Aquinas to as far north as Bloomfield, Hartington-Newcastle and Ponca.
Joshua Reiff, the Twin River band instructor, had two of his nine band students selected for HAWKFEST.
Reiff said his students enjoy attending band festivals such as HAWKFEST because they are playing with other students who are excited about music.
It also is an opportunity for students from small schools to get a chance to play in a bigger band and hear what it sounds like, or for a choir to hear more voices in harmonies. Meeting students from other schools, combining their talents and performing together can be uplifting, Reiff said.
Corie Clausen, K-12 band and choir instructor at Wausa, said she has 30-plus students in her high school choir and about 25 students in the high school band. She had nine students, all choir, who attended.
Sheila Lange, K-12 band and vocal instructor at Bloomfield, said she has 28 students in her high school choir, with a 7-12 band featuring 34 students. She had three students attending HAWKFEST, all of them in choir. She had other students who wanted to attend, but conflicts with other activities kept them away.
Clausen said she tries to get her students into as many honor bands and choirs as possible. One of the benefits of HAWKFEST is that it is closer than some of the others where they are invited and it helps that it is on a weekday.
“I think they really look forward to these days because they are coming to sing with other students who also are passionate or who really love music. I think Sheila (Lange) would agree that not everyone loves choir or maybe they are in it because their friends are, and they want to have fun. That’s OK, but I think the students who love music look forward to today,” Clausen said.
Another benefit with the choir is the music that was chosen can be learned in a day, giving them enough challenge but also allowing them to gain confidence, she said.
Lange said students from small schools often like to be involved in many activities.
“On one hand, kids like to get out of school, but on the other hand, it is an opportunity to sing with a really big choir,” Lange said. “Now 28 students isn’t bad for a small school, but it is not like singing with 75 students or however many they have here today. It just gives a different vibe.”
Lange said another benefit is that it helps students hear some of the same things they have been taught from other instructors. In a small school, if the students aren’t chosen for an honor band or honor choir, their only experience of music is through the local music teacher, she said.
When these students are in a room full of students who are all working for the same goal, it can be amazing and inspiring to hear them perform together.
Another benefit of HAWKFEST is that it sometimes provides students who might not make other honor bands and honor choirs an opportunity to make one. It exposes them to a collegiate program, which also allows them to meet some music majors.
“So many of our students from our small schools go to Northeast, so this shows them that there is another way for them to keep on doing music,” Lange said. “It gives them a peak at what is possible.”
Kevin McLouth, Northeast Music instructor, and Margaret Schultz, Northeast Music instructor/Choral activities director, directed the Honor Band and Honor Choir, respectively. Linda Boullion was the accompanist.
To view HAWKFEST, click here.
The following students were chosen.
HONOR BAND
Flute
Erin Wagner, Osmond; Ava Martinez, Twin River; McKenna Mullaniz, Pender; Katie Warneke, Elkhorn Valley; Iveet Gonzalaez, Madison; Jordyn Coutts, Creighton.
Clarinet
Elsie Gilliland, Randolph; Landon Hergert, Plainview; Lillian Blank, Pierce; Hailey Romesser, O’Neill; Ariel Falcon, Pender.
Percussion
Adeline Bobby, Homeschool; Caleb Laursen, O’Neill; Grace Sagales, Twin River.
Trumpet
Sylvia Piitz, David City Aquinas; Trayton Christiansen, Pierce; Braxton Merlenbach, Battle Creek; Madi Pedersen, Lutheran High Northeast; Bodonn Sweeney, Madison; Lucea Miller, Plainview.
Bass Clarinet
Kaitlyn Hinrichs, O’Neill; Angel Alvarado-Mendez, Ponca.
Euphoniums
Brook Snyder, Bancroft-Rosalie; Justice Arington, Creighton.
Alto Sax
Keely Gubbels, Osmond; Weston Hoffman, Plainview.
Tenor Sax
Hope Springer, Pender.
Baritone Saxophone
Andrew Wiese, Bancroft-Rosalie.
Trombone
Bastion Curtiss, Plainview; Jack Berg, Osmond; Benjamin Johnson, Creighton; Reese Grosch, O’Neill.
French Horn
Logan Bradshaw, O’Neill.
Tuba
Keaton Vavra, Pierce.
HONOR CHOIR
Soprano
Piper Rivest, Battle Creek; Sydney Hochstein, Bloomfield; Irelyn Bearinger, Elkhorn Valley; Delilah, Qualset, Elkhorn Valley; Allison Huesers, Hartington-Newcastle; Ryell Haug, Hartington-Newcastle; Daniela Orama, Madison; Hadleigh Collison, Pierce; Zoey Ebmeier, Pierce; Katherine Enriquez, Plainview; Meleah Buck, Plainview; Anika Robinson, Plainview; Kaylee Kloster, Ponca; Serenity Schultz, Randolph; Neveah Martinez; Shelby-Rising City; Esther Hogrefe, Stanton; Chelsea Kment, Stanton; Jessica Anderson, Wausa; Natalie Cautrell, Winside.
Alto
Presley Wolf, Battle Creek; Jordan Patzel, Boone Central; Leialoha Barnes, Boone Central; Azriel Uhrenholdt, Boone Central; Vivian Carnley, Boone Central; Aleia Lilly, Creighton; Paizlynn Glenn, Elkhorn Valley; Cadence DeWitt, Elkhorn Valley; Aaralyn Collier, Hartington-Newcastle; Ali Ford, Hartington-Newcastle; Madilynn Sweeney, Madison; Angie Camacho, Plainview; Kayci Daudt, Plainview; Emilee Olson, Randolph; Jenna Guenther, Randolph; Gracie Wortman, Randolph; Kendall Story, Wausa; Ainsley Dawson, Wausa; Emmie Brazel, Wausa.
Tenor
Jesse Gerdes, Bloomfield; Joseph Barnell, Creighton; Gaven White, Creighton; Evan Decker, Elkhorn Valley; Jaren Hergert, Plainview; Jameson Dobler, Plainview; Dominic White, Plainview; Sam Jessen, Stanton; Braydon Hoesing, Wausa; Vayden Thompsen, Wausa; Brady Kristensen, Wausa; Alijah Nelson, Wausa.
Bass
Michael Dodge, Bloomfield; Hadley Gulbrandson, Boone Central; Riley Lordemann, Boone Central; George Burrell, Creighton; Bradley Nall, Elkhorn Valley; Kypton Collier, Hartington-Newcastle;, Bernardo Camacho, Plainview; Aiden Hamilton, Plainview; Hunter Meyer, Plainview; Oliver Persinger, Ponca; Kasey Fishbach, Shelby-Rising City;, Urujah Grant, Shelby-Rising City; Rogan Hoesing, Wausa.
HAWKFEST Practice
Margaret Schultz, Northeast Music instructor/Choral activities director, directs high school students during a rehearsal on Monday, Oct. 7, during HAWKFEST. (Northeast Community College)
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