The Hart High School District Honor Band will perform at their 33rd annual concert on Saturday, in the Hart High School Auditorium. 

Local junior high and high school students have been preparing for one of the William S. Hart Union High School District’s biggest music events of the year, the 33rd annual Honor Band Concert, on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Hart High School Auditorium.

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Of the 700 music students who auditioned 178 were selected to perform at the concert–86 for the junior high honor band and 92 for the high school band.

Jason Marshall, director of instrumental music at West Ranch High School, said that the students who make it into the honor band are truly outstanding performers.

“They definitely display a high proficiency on their instrument in regards to tone production and technical ability and musicality,” he said.

Marshall has 26 students playing in the honor band.

This year, the concert will be directed by guest conductors Eric Hammer and Angela Woo.

Hammer, who will direct the high school band, has served as director of bands and professor of music education at the University of the Pacific in Stockton for more than 20 years.

Woo will direct the junior high band. She is the director of the Visual and Performing Arts Department and director of instrumental music at John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica.

The Hart District has maintained its honor band for 33 years, despite the fact that many high school districts do not have an honor band, Marshall said.

“We just really feel that in today’s society, the arts matter,” he said, referring to the district’s entire music program, “and with all the technology and with all the social media going on, this is an old school and cultural thing for us.”

In addition to recognition as an honor band member, one junior high student and several high school students will be recognized at the concert for outstanding honor band participation over two to six years in the program.

The Robert K. Downs Memorial Scholarship will be presented to a senior in appreciation for Downs’ contributions to music education in the Santa Clarita Valley, as a former band director for Hart High School and College of the Canyons. Several smaller Honor Band scholarships will also be announced.

Many students continue their music education in college, Marshall said.

He has students who have gone on to study at prestigious schools like the Eastman School of Music in New York, the University of North Texas and the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he said.

The Honor Band Concert is open to the community and tickets are $12 each at the door.

For more information, contact the Hart District office at 661-259-0033.

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

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