Tiger Pride marches on

The Nevada High School Tiger Pride Marching Band practices during class.

The Nevada High School Tiger Pride Marching Band is wrapping up its 2010-'11 performance and competition season and will only perform a few more times this year. The band is playing at the basketball games this week and closing out the month with what band director Tom Meyer called "a great year."

Meyer said he was "very proud of the kids and their hard work."

For band students, the work begins with practice, practice, practice, more practice and then there are the ball games, assemblies and road trips. This year, the band played at five home football games, traveled to four competitions and performed a show for both nights of the Anti-van variety show.

Members of the 2010-11 Nevada Middle School Seventh Grade All District Honor Band are kneeling, left to right: Alison Celaya-Brockman, Morgan Ernsbarger, Chloe Bietsch, DeAngello Vincent, Addy Simmons, Carlee Carpenter and Emily Goodrich. Middle row, left to right: Riley Gordon, Elienor Pruitt, Zachary Shotts, Jace Crall, Justin Leonard and Tommi Julian. Back row, left to right: McKenzie Smith, Zach Cullison, Trent Ingegneri, David Conley, Taylor Remington, Candrah Black and Megan Douglas.

Members of the 2010-11 Nevada High School All Conference Honors Band are left to right: Bailey Jones, Samantha Robinson, Kyler Henson, Sammy Kirschenmann and Jessica DeCocq.

The competition was tough, but the band "did progressively better" said Meyer during a season that began with the Webb City Marching Festival. There the band took third place out of 11 bands in the Class C competition and placed seventh in the finals from a field of 12 bands in the open class. From Webb City, the band went on to place second in their class at the Heart of America Band Festival held on the campus of the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

Returning home from that competition, the next stop was Missouri State University in Springfield and the Ozarko Marching Festival. The band again did well, placing third in their class of eight bands and fifth in the finals, which saw them competing against nine bands. The band had done very well so far, but the best was yet to come.

The final competition of the year was the Ozark Mountain Marching Festival held in Reeds Spring, Mo. The Tiger Pride band stole the show, winning first place in their class of five bands. They won Outstanding Hornline and Outstanding Colorguard. The band placed first in the finals out of 12 bands and won the Outstanding Colorguard in the finals, and they were crowned as Grand Champion of the Festival, which prompted Meyer to say, "Winning at Reeds Spring was a great way to end the year."

Members of the 2010-11 Nevada Middle School 8th Grade All District Honor band are kneeling, left to right: Sarah Harris, Alexandria Richards, Cassidy Blea, Emma Denman and Brodie Rhone. Middle row, left to right: Skyler Crews Colby Arduser, Mikayla Bartlett, Skyler Laning, Erika Conley and Taylor Beverley. Back row, left to right: Candice Stone, Abbie Landoll, Gary Fenton, Myles Coffer, Alyx Hawkins and Andrew Messick.

Senior marcher Ashley McKinley told Meyer that winning at "Reeds Spring was just the cherry on top of a wonderful four years in the band."

Members of the 2010-11 Nevada High School All District Honor Band are front row, left to right: Ashley McKinley, Elisabeth Anderson, Cathryn Anderson and Emily Hogan. Middle row, left to right: Bailey Jones, Paige Burris, Sable Smith, Samantha Nelson and Shelby Thorns. Back row, left to right: Nathan Conley, Raymond Sworde, Colby Smith, Doug DeCocq and Dennis Mowry.

Members of the high school band also did well in their auditions for the District Honor Band. A total of 15 students made the band and among them were four first chairs and four alternate first chairs. There were some second and third and alternate positions earned as well. All students who made it into the honors band as well as the alternate chairs were eligible to try out for the all state band in Columbia, Mo., on Dec. 4. Paige Burris was selected as first alternate clarinet chair at the all state tryouts.

Five members of the band also made it to the All Conference Honors Band. The five members of the all conference band all thought getting to meet other students was the best part of being chosen for the honor band, "it's pretty fantastic," said trumpet player Sammie Kirschenmann.

Since there are 27 schools competing for the 100 seats, Meyer said the students did very well with the number of students chosen, and he said, "it's always an honor to have those high chair positions." The honors continued to come as the Nevada Middle School Band had their auditions.

A total of 20 band members of the seventh grade band made the All District Honors Band and among them they managed to garner five first chair positions and two second chair positions. The eighth grade members did nearly as well placing 18 members on the band that won two first chairs and seven second chair positions. There were many other chair positions awarded to Nevada students.

Meyer said he was pleased that the younger students did so well. "It's great," he said to have 20 percent of the honors band be members of the Nevada band program. Meyer said they "place a lot of emphasis on the honors band" in order to give students a goal to focus on, "it encourages improvement," he said. "The bands have come along way this year," he said.

Some students aren't done for the year. There are still a number of music related things going on at the schools. "The jazz band season is about to start," said Meyer and competitions will begin in February. There are also the solo and ensemble competitions coming up on the district level as well as the large ensemble competitions where the Nevada band has "a tradition of getting a 1 rating," according to Meyer. And finally, there comes the Nevada Band Festival, where 15 to 20 bands will come to Nevada to perform and compete in April.

The Nevada Middle School band practices.

That seems a long way off, but it will be here soon enough to keep band members busy for the rest of what has been a very good year. Meyer did want to thank the students for their hard work during the year, and he said, "I would also like to thank the parents for all their hard work during the season."