Throughout the years, Cleveland has built a reputation of high achievement in band. In the last couple of years, many awards have been given out to the highly talented students of the school.
This year, the band has been as successful as ever, receiving an invitation from the Western International Band Clinic (WIBC). This conference had schools from Canada and Australia, as well as 20 different U.S. states. From Cleveland, 31 students auditioned for this competition, and 29 got a spot to perform in Seattle.
“That’s a very high percentage (93%), which is always exciting to see,” said Gary Riler, band director.
Students were divided into four bands: Firebird, Thunderbird, Sunbird, and Phoenix.
“You get to go to Seattle with a lot of your friends and play music for a weekend,” said junior Thatcher Burkart, a member of the Sunbird band.
Senior Anwar Laraway agreed with Burkart in this sentiment. “You get to see a lot of perspectives on music and what you’re playing,” he added.
In addition to the success with the WIBC, 18 students have been selected to participate in the Oregon Musical Education Association (OMEA) all-state ensembles. The conference will take place in Eugene, beginning on Jan. 11 and lasts for three days. The turnout for Cleveland’s Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band was especially strong, with seven and six students going to state respectively.
“A lot of schools don’t get that, and a great number of students were in the upper-level groups, which again, was exciting to see,” commented Riler.
“I didn’t believe I was going to make it at first, because I didn’t believe my audition was that amazing, but apparently it was pretty decent because I made one of the bands,” said Burkart.
It’s not all smooth sailing from here on out, though. “State’s supposed to be a lot more rigorous than WIBC from what I’ve heard,” Laraway expressed.
Riler was surprised at the students’ initiative, saying, “What is impressive to me, is that they’re driving the successes…they want to do it and it shows.”
Cleveland’s band hopes to build off these events and continue their performance next year and beyond. “I think it’ll be very good for college resumes to see that I’ve played at all-state for probably the next two years because I’m hoping I’ll make it next year,” concluded Burkart.