Most music students are used to some sort of audience, the fear of messing up in front of people, or the pride of showing off their well-practiced skills. Music students in San Luis Obispo (SLO) county have an opportunity to take their skills to the next level and perform for much larger crowds, by playing for the SLO County Honor Band.
SLO County Honor Band is an auditioned concert band for students in middle or high school. They auditioned in the middle of January and prepared for their concert through February.
Three AGHS freshmen took a step into the spotlight and auditioned for the ‘26 Honor Band. Charles Shaver plays french horn and Posey Ussery plays bass clarinet; both are new to Honor Band. Ella Cavazos, who plays clarinet, had auditioned and been accepted once before, in eighth grade.
Honor Band can be a daunting task for students, especially newcomers.
“Auditions were the worst part for me, I didn’t know if I was gonna be as good as everyone else,” Cavazos said.
Auditions served as a learning and growing experience, for both students who were accepted and rejected from the Honor Band.
“If you just try out, it’s still a really big accomplishment,” Cavazos said.
Auditions weren’t the only fear students had.
“[Audiences were] probably 4 times larger than normal [class band],” Shaver said.
Despite looming fears, the benefits outweighed any fear in students’ eyes.
“[Playing in Honor Band] made me feel better about my instrument, I have less of a fear [now],” Ussery said.
Students who auditioned didn’t back down from a challenge and, instead, enjoyed it.
“I liked Florotina March [the most], because [of] it’s fast pace,” Ussery said. “It’s probably the most challenging [song we played].”
Honor band has many more differences to normal high school band than just audience size or auditions.
“[Honor Band is] a lot more serious and there’s definitely a lot more rules to it. It feels more like a sport than normal band,” Ussery said.
Students were able to perform better in their usual musical settings, such as school band, after having the experience from playing for the Honor Band.
“I feel a lot better performing in front of crowds now,” Ussery said. “After performing for a big crowd once, it takes the edge off.”
Overall, Honor Band was a great experience for these students.
“I had a blast, I met a lot of people,” Shaver said.
