The John M. Long School of Music hosted the 48th Annual Southeastern United States Honor Band and Clinic (SEUS) on Feb. 5, including about 400 high school students in the day-long virtual event.
The day consisted of honor band rehearsals as well as video contributions from multiple guest performers for the students to watch and learn from at the event.
“We had the Boston Brass, a world-famous brass quintet, as our guest artists who gave virtual clinics to all of the students,” said Dr. Mark Walker, Director of Bands for the John M. Long School of Music. “We also had two guest bands from the Atlanta suburbs who sent in videotape performances.
“During the lunch hour we showed performances by the Troy University symphony band, jazz band and POPulus as well.”
School of Music faculty created video clinics that participating students could access through a private site as soon as they registered as well as after the event.
The 400 students formed this year’s honor band to learn and perform a piece called “Portals,” which was composed by Robert Smith, the coordinator of the music industry program at TROY. Smith also conducted the virtual rehearsals throughout the day.
Each member of the honor band will submit a recording of their performance of the piece, and the School of Music will bring them together for a debut of the piece on March 5.
Due to the virtual format of the event, Walker said they were able to expand their reach outside of the typical group of students from Florida, Georgia and Alabama to include some students from Michigan, Ohio and even Canada.
“An event like this is really pretty groundbreaking,” said Walker. “There haven’t been many institutions that have produced an event on this scale.
“For a university to offer the depth and breadth of experiences and opportunities in a one-day experience is nearly unheard of.”
Walker said he is very proud of the work his department has done, and the reach the music programs have is incredible. Events like SEUS bring high-quality students to the school and strengthen the music programs like the Sound of the South and POPulus.
Additional information can be found here.
