Honors Band

Over 170 young students took part in the nineteenth annual Honors Band Concert on April 5, 2006 at the King Philip Middle School . Of special note was the air quality scare at the Middle School that took place on the first scheduled rehearsal day. This caused that rehearsal to be cancelled, leaving the students only two days to prepare for the concert. Amazing work by the students led to a great concert in front of a packed gymnasium. More chairs had to be found to accommodate the crowd. Two groups performed – the beginning honors band and the advanced band. Each group played three separate pieces, under the baton of Mr. Tileston. Intermingled were solos from each group. Proudly wearing the honors band ribbons they’d earned in previous years, the students of the high school also took part, sitting in, mentoring, caring for, and generally having a ball with the younger kids. 

 

This tradition of honors band came from Mr. Tileston’s own experience as a young child. Mr. Tileston reflected, “I will always remember my first ribbon. It was red actually, not blue, but it was so cool. And when I first played in the honors band, the sound was so big it was awesome. I will never forget how that one experience kept me involved. It was only natural that I stole the idea and brought it here. Now it’s been our tradition for nineteen years. Although I wave the baton at the concert, the most work is done by the high school students and other music staff who go through the music in sectional rehearsals. This year it was done in record time. We used to rehearse four times before the honors concert, then we decided o reduce it to three. This year we lost one of those and still managed to pull off a superb performance. It really only says one thing – The elementary and middle school teachers are doing an absolutely fantastic job!”