Students from West’s band program auditioned for the Southeast Iowa Bandmasters Association (SEIBA) Honor Band at Fairfield High School on Jan. 25. 

The audition encompassed both the SEIBA concert band and the jazz band. Those auditioning for the concert band were students who were not members of the Iowa All-State Honor Band, while those auditioning for the jazz band could have been members of that ensemble. 

Many of those auditioning for the concert band have been working on their auditions since early August, when the materials for both the All-State band and the SEIBA band are released. 

The concert band audition includes a solo except, excerpts from two etudes and a sampling of scales given at random. The jazz audition, on the other hand, is composed of a sight reading test designed to judge a performer’s swing style, scales and an improvisation test. 

After a student completed their first audition of the day, many instruments had recall auditions where acceptances and chair placements were solidified. Thus, the day didn’t end until 4:00, when the last instrument results were posted.

The following students were accepted into either the SEIBA concert band or the SEIBA jazz band:

Concert Band:

Damien Kim ’23 – Tenor Saxophone

Kaylee Gibson ’23 – Tuba

Natalie Urmie ’23 – Trombone

Marcos Cheng ’21 – Clarinet

Alex Carlon ’21 – Clarinet

Miles Davies ’22 – Clarinet

Tony Wang ’22 – Clarinet

Gary Chen ’22 – Clarinet

Lydia Cui ’22 – Flute

Claire Widmer ’22 – Flute

Catherine Yang ’23 – Flute

Audrey Parrish ’23 – Trumpet

Sachiko Goto ’23 – Trumpet

Jazz Band: 

Ethan Buck ’21 – Alto Saxophone

Daniel Song ’20 – Alto Saxophone

Ty Waters ’20 – Trombone 

Julien Cook ’20 – Trumpet 

Jacob Gehlbach ’21 – Trumpet 

Chris Kim ’20 – Tenor Saxophone

Andrew Burgess ’20 – Piano