Six Haines High School students were chosen by Southeast music teachers to participate in the annual Southeast Honor Music Festival, Oct. 24-26 in Wrangell.

Sopranos Hannah Wing and Alisha Young, tenors Sung Heywood and Devin Braaten, trombonist Quinn Asquith-Heinz and baritone saxophone player Emily Bowman qualified after sending recordings of their performances.

"Only the best musicians in Southeast get to participate, so it’s a big deal. For a program our size to send six kids is a lot," said music teacher Kristina Mulready.

The event saw musicians and singers practicing six hours a day for finale choir and band performances for the community. "They have to learn festival pieces before they get there and they’re playing and singing six hours a day in rehearsals. They’re continuously working on their pieces," Mulready said.

The festival was the third in as many years for Braaten, a singer in his junior year. He said some of the songs performed by the choir had complicated rhythms and involved learning lyrics in Spanish and Greek languages. "With Spanish words you can get mixed up pretty easily but memorizing it got easy after singing them for two days straight."

The payoff, Braaten said, was performing with other, experienced singers. "I felt confident and I was singing with others who were confident. A whole lot of confident people singing at once makes a loud noise, which is really fun to experience."

Songs they performed included "Ezekul Saw de Wheel," "If Music Be the Food of Love," "Dance of the Zalongo," and "Ritmo."

The honors festival was a first for saxophonist Bowman, a junior who’s played her instrument since seventh grade. Bowman was the only baritone saxophone chosen for the festival. She said her parts were relatively easy to play. "Some of the other parts were really complicated. It was cool hearing musicians who knew how to play them."

Honor band selections included "Amparito Roca," "Serenade for Wind Band," "Buffalo Jump Ritual," "Aquarium" and "The Crosley March."

Besides intensive study and performing with the best of their peers, the program offers students from schools like Haines a rare chance to be part of a larger ensemble. "For example, in Haines, Quinn has only one other trombone player, but in Wrangell there were nine trombones," Mulready said.

Mulready, who is new to the district this year, told the school board this week that the festival tryouts helped her and her students understand their abilities. "A lot of them had no idea how good they really were. It was a fun process."

Peter Wordelman, professor of music at Eastern Oregon University, directed the choir. The band director was Jim Howell, a Oregon band leader.

In related news, Wing and soprano Karissa Land, a Haines High School sophomore, have been chosen to perform at the state music festival Nov. 18-20 in Anchorage. "That’s a big deal," said Mulready. Land will be vying for first chair, a coveted position in the choir, Mulready said.