Published: February 16, 2009 01:18 pm      

Students selected for all-state band

Two music students from Hill College were selected to perform in the all-state community college band at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio Wednesday through Saturday. 

Hill College’s Robert Friesenhahn, a sophomore from Oklahoma City, Okla., and Adrian Bumgarner, a freshman from Springtown were chosen among other community college music students in Texas by blind judging. All the candidates had to send in a recording of the same song, and then five judges listened to the recordings and chose the best performances to be in the all-state community college band. Friesenhhahn was one of 10 trumpet players selected out of 24 candidates, and Bumgarner was one of eight flute players selected out of 16 total candidates for a position in the band.

“I made sure I practiced every single day,” said Bumgarner.

Both students practiced their pieces daily for the past five months.

“If there was a bed in the band hall, I would have just slept there,” said Friesenhahn.

TMEA is the nation’s largest and most prestigious gathering of its kind with attendance projected at more than 24,000. Music educators, students and parents take advantage of this single source for products to support them in their teaching and their progress as student musicians.

“When Mr. Lowe first told me that I was selected, I didn’t believe him,” said Bumgarner. “He had to tell me again before I actually realized that I was chosen.”

Once Bumgarner and Friesenhahn arrive in San Antonio, they will have a busy schedule complete with chair tryouts and rehearsals leading up to a final performance on their last day.

“In about three days, 100 students who don’t know each other will work together to perform five difficult songs,” said Phillip Lowe, Hill College director of bands. “It is definitely an accomplishment to be selected, and I am very proud of them.”