Students selected for District Band
Five Meyersdale Area High School musicians were selected to participate in the 2025 PMEA District Band Festival.
The Meyersdale Music Department continues to excel and “hit all the right notes” – all five of the Meyersdale Area High School students who recently attended the PMEA District Band Festival have advanced to the 2025 PMEA Region Band Festival! Congratulations to Ryan Sechler, Amber Long, Hope Canfield, Rayne Stevanus and Mallory Emerick!
These talented musicians have advanced through the audition process and will represent MAHS at Region Band, in Altoona, on March 5 through 7.
The audition process was held during the 2025 District 6 Band Festival held January 23 and 24. The festival, hosted by the Bellwood-Antis Area School District, welcomed students from the following school districts: Altoona, Bedford, Bellwood- Antis, Berlin, Bishop Guilfoyle, Bishop McCort, Blacklick Valley, Cambria Heights, Central, Central Cambria, Chestnut Ridge, Caysburg-Kimmel, Conemaugh Township, Conemaugh Valley, Everett, Ferndale, Forest Hills, Greater Johnstown, Hollidaysburg, Johnstown Christian, Mdeyersdale, North Star, Northern Bedford, Northern Cambria, Penn Cambria, Portage, Richalnd, Rockwood, Salisbury, Shanksville, Somerset, Tussey Mountain, Tyrone, Westmont Hilltop and Williamsburg.
This highly competitive program requires dedication, commitment and skill from these young musicians. To earn a spot at this annual festival, musicians must audition and demonstrate great skill. These MAHS students performed beautifully during the audition process earning their position in the District 6 Band: Mallory Emerick, Flute 1; Hope Canfield, Baritone Sax; Amber Long, Cornet III; Ryan Sechler, Euphonium; and Rayne Stevanus, Tuba.
Dr. Ben Blasko served as the guest conductor. He is the Director of Instrumental Studies at Lipscomb University. He holds degrees from the University of North Texas, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Messiah University and is a local high school graduate of Conemaugh Township.
Following two days of rehearsals, students performed a concert for the public. The concert included performances of the following songs: “Ayre for Eventide, from 3 Ayres from Gloucester,” Hugh Stuart; “J.S. Jig,” Brant Karrick; “Like Our Fathers Before Us,” Michael Barry; “Rocketship!”, Kevin Day; and “Sheltering Sky,” John Mackey.
Director of Music at MASD, Katie Howard, said being selected to perform in the District Band is a true honor and achievement for these musicians as the process is challenging and highly competitive.
“The hard work that these students put in from the beginning of the school year until mid-November really paid off when they successfully auditioned for a seat at District Band, but their effort didn’t end there; really, it had just begun. Once a student makes it into Districts, they are provided a folder of repertoire for the festival and it is their responsibility to learn every note of every piece before the festival. After arriving at the festival, they then participate in blind auditions (again) where a panel of judges select two to three excerpts from the music they’ve been preparing. This audition is what determines who will move on to the Region Band Festival,” Howard explained.
At the conclusion of the 2025 District 6 Band Festival, Howard learned that all five of this year’s attendees had successfully advanced through the auction process and will be attending the 2025 PMEA Region Band Festival in March.
“I am incredibly proud of these five outstanding students in our band program. Mr. Johnston, retired MASD band director, and I do not think Meyersdale has ever advanced five students to Region Band before, so this is a huge accomplishment for our district. These students are leaders who have demonstrated that hard work and diligence pays off. The music for District Band included some challenging pieces that our students mastered before their auditions,” explained Howard. “They continue to set the bar high for the other students in our program and I’m excited to see what happens at Region Band… perhaps we will be headed to States!”