North Lenoir High sends seven to UNCW Honor Band Festival
North Lenoir High musicians selected to attend the 10th annual UNCW Honor Band Festival going on through Saturday include, from left, Jaxson Moore, Nigel Williams, Sara Jones, Jaylen Joyner and Joseph Byrd. Not pictured are festival attendees Makaio Greene and Matthew Hernandez. At rear is North Lenoir band director Michael Lewis. Submitted photo.
Seven North Lenoir High School students are immersed in music this week, taking lessons, attending concerts and performing as members of the UNCW Honor Band.
The students, accompanied by North Lenoir band director Michael Lewis and parent chaperones, left for Wilmington on Thursday and entered a whirlwind schedule that will culminate Saturday with a concert led by guest conductor Sean Smith of A.C. Reynolds High School in Asheville.
In between, students will rehearse, attend master classes with UNCW Department of Music faculty and UNC Director of Bands Dominic Talanca and take in performances by the UNCW Symphonic Band, jazz ensembles and faculty ensembles
“They’ll be pretty busy the next few days preparing their music as well as attending master classes as well as attending concerts,” Lewis said before the group left.
North Lenoir’s contingent this year is the largest ever. Eleven students were invited to attend by UNCW, but scheduling issues winnowed that number to seven – “a good number for us,” Lewis said.
Representing North Lenoir are Sara Jones, Jaylen Joyner, Makaio Greene, Jaxson Moore, Nigel Williams, Matthew Hernandez and Joseph Byrd. Sara, a junior, and Jaylen, a senior, also attended the UNCW Honor Band Festival last year.
“The first time I went I was just taken by the fact that there were so many kids around North Carolina who love music as much as I do,” said Jaylen, a trombonist. “I don’t expect anything less this year. It’s going to be a wonderful experience.”
First-time attendee Joseph Byrd, a drummer and bandmate of Jaylen’s since they were sixth graders at E.B. Frink Middle School, expects the newness of the experience to be “invigorating,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to new challenges and new opportunities,” he said. “It just seems like a really good learning opportunity and an environment I want to be around.”
Last year, the UNCW Honor Band Festival received more than 350 nominations for honor band slots and invited about 200 students to attend. Participants are selected on the recommendation of their band director, who provides information about their musical history and accomplishments. An audition tape provided by each nominee helps determine his or her program of practice, classes and performance during the festival.
“When I complete the nomination form, I give a lot of details about each person,” Lewis said. “A lot of students who are going have done all-county in the past and some have done UNCW in the past as well.”
