Rising to the Challenge of Honor Band

by Eden

“Honor Band is a time where talented musicians gather and play difficult pieces together. We learn from mistakes we make and improve together,” said grade 7 Eileen.   

Honor Band is an event held in November, where committed musicians come together from multiple schools like SIS, SASPD, ISNS and others to push themselves to grow stronger. Students from multiple schools audition, then rehearse every week, and perform as one group. Honor Band is an opportunity to take your musical skills and sharpen them.  

According to an attendee, Ryan (grade 7), “the songs are pretty hard.” The Honor band event itself is two packed days, filled with exciting music and performances and fun activities as well. Vedant describes Honor Band as “a festival where multiple schools band students get together and play pieces,” which “helps students and directors from each school to improve their playing abilities and their collaboration skills. After 8-10 weeks of hard work, the students from each school put on a concert for their parents and any other viewers, to showcase their hardworking and their talents.”  

Going into Honor Band, many students expect the environment to be intimidating and challenging. The idea of performing alongside musicians from other schools with great musical talent can create high amounts of pressure on children. Vedant knew it would be tough.  

“Going into honor band, I knew that it would be challenging and a lot of kids there would be better than me, and that was true,” However, something surprised him–it was how welcoming the atmosphere was. It was nothing similar to what he had expected as Vedant himself explains, “I had also thought that Honor Band would have been very serious and awkward with all the schools, but honestly after the first couple rehearsals, everyone gelled well with each other, and we started to enjoy being together.”  

Despite different skill levels, they all found out more about each other, suddenly enjoying the time more than ever. Honor Band isn’t just about rehearsals and practice; it’s also about the relationships students form. For Vedant, the social event stood out from other events: “During Honor Band, one of my personal favorite experiences apart from playing together, was the social we had together. This gave us time to socialize and get to know one another and a chance to have fun to celebrate our hard work.” 

Joining Honor Band isn’t just about auditions and playing; it begins with preparation before the rehearsals even start. Eileen explains that “[she] [has] to prepare the audition pieces for audition and [she] need to practice the 8 or 9 pieces we have to play.” Vedant also states that, “To prepare for Honor Band, you first have to go through an audition process, in which you have to play 8 bars of a piece, and the director checks your focus on notes, dynamics, and how well you are able to transfer the feeling of the piece.  

Once you get in Honor Band, you then prepare with the other people.” Together they got a total of “10 pieces of music, making sure you can play them to the best of your ability after the time given to practice.” Eileen also shares the process of preparing, “I prepare for Honor Band by practicing at least once a week so I can be more familiar with the pieces and make sure I won’t make any mistakes.”

Although this may sound simple, it is a hard time and a rough time these people must go through to even play in Honor Band. 

Vedant describes his feelings before the performance as a mix of worries and excitement. “Before our performance I felt a tinge of nervousness as well as excitement to show my parents and everyone how much I had grown as a musician throughout my Honor Band journey.” 

But after the performance, his feelings changed. “At the end, I was proud that I had got through this new journey and that I had come out of it a better musician.”