Wind symphony performs at CMEA
The Lewis-Palmer High School Band poses for a picture after their performance at CMEA. “You can only audition every three years so we were lucky enough to audition this year,” Allison Sobers 12 said. “Our expectations were pretty low but it’s definitely a huge honor for everyone.”
March 8, 2022
The Lewis-Palmer High School Band recently had the opportunity to perform at the Colorado Music Educators Association conference of 2022. The conference takes place at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. Only three high school bands in the state of Colorado get the chance to perform.
“CMEA is a collection of different music educators in Colorado,” Allison Sobers 12 said. “They choose performances from the best high schools in the state and we [wind symphony] were able to audition this year.”
There are only three high school bands in Colorado that get to perform. This means that it’s very competitive. After the band auditions, they aren’t allowed to try again for three years.
“Since we’re a smaller school, or at least a smaller band, it’s a huge accomplishment,” Cameron Gearhart 11 said. “There are performances, speakers, and different types of things that represent different aspects of the music industry. Our band was selected to perform, so we got to play a total of 6 pieces of music.”
The audition process consists of recording one of the band’s performances and sending it to the panel for them to decide if the band gets to perform at CMEA. Bands only get to audition once every three years. It takes a very long time to find out the results.
“We recorded our first concert of the year; we sent that and they got back to us months later saying we made it,” Lily Billings 12 said. “We were one of three bands that got to perform out of the entirety of Colorado.”
Most members’ favorite part of band is the community it creates. The people in band are very inclusive and the director is part of why it’s such a great place.
“It’s a super close-knit group,” Billings said. “I didn’t know that there could be such a good and inclusive group to be a part of until this year actually. And the director is so great. Mr. Chapman is really cool. He always wants to know everybody’s opinions. A lot of music educators don’t. He lets us pick the pieces that we want to do too. He’s also always there for us. Even for things that don’t have anything to do with the band. He’s really awesome.”
