Northwest High School Honor Band

Honor Band

January 5-6, 2024

Mary Baker Russell Music Center | Ron Gerhardstein, Director

The Northwest High School Honor Bands will feature music performed by approximately 325 of the finest high school musicians from Idaho, Oregon and Washington. These outstanding high school students are recommended for participation in the event by their high school band directors and the concert is a culmination of two days of intense rehearsals with guest clinicians.

Honor Band Schedule

Registration:

Honor Band Registration will be made available following the designated nomination period.

Once nominations have been reviewed, Honor Band participants will be notified of acceptance via email and provided access to registration. Once received, please complete registration and payment using the link provided by TBD.

  • Participant fees: $125 (non-refundable) / Deadline: December 15, 2023 at 4:00 pm.
  • A link of the recorded performance will be shared with participants following the event.

Please note that no refunds will be allowed after event registration has been completed, and no registration or payment will be accepted following the deadline of December 15.

Nominations:

High school directors, please use the link provided below to nominate and recommend students that you would like to participate in the Northwest High School Honor Band. We ask that before nominating a student, please check with each student concerning their availability. There is a participant fee of $125 for each student participating in the Honor Band.

Nomination deadline: October 13, 2023 at 11:59 pm

Honor Band Nomination Form

Performance Attire:

For the performances, students should plan on wearing standard concert attire that they would normally wear for school performances. Aside from the concerts, casual dress is appropriate.

Audition Materials for Chair Placement:

After participant’s check in on January 5th, chair placement auditions will be held in various rooms in the Mary Baker Russell Music Center. Please open and print the PDF version of your part for your instrument and practice prior to the January 5th check in.

Flute, Oboes, Clarinet (B-Flat), Clarinet (Bass), Clarinet (Contra Bass), Bassoon, Sax (Alto), Sax (Bari), Sax (Tenor), Trumpet/Cornet, French Horn, Trombone, Euphonium TC, Euphonium BC, Tuba, Mallets, Snare Drum, Timpani, Double Bass

Performance:

January 6, 2024

4:30 pm Performance
Northwest High School
Concert Band

and

6:30 pm Performance
Northwest High School
Symphonic Band

Free Admission / No Tickets

Workshop Clinicians:

Dr. Emily Threinen is an Associate Professor of Music and serves as Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota School of Music in the Twin Cities. In this position, she conducts the acclaimed University Wind Ensemble, guides the graduate wind band conducting program, assists in undergraduate conducting, and provides administrative leadership for all aspects of the University of Minnesota Band Program.

Prior to her position here, Threinen served as Director of Bands and Artistic Director of Winds and Brass at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Director of Bands at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia; Director of the Duke University Wind Symphony in Durham, North Carolina; Director of the Concordia University Wind Ensemble in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Conductor of the Dodworth Saxhorn Band in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Director of Bands and Instrumental Music at Harding High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she received the Outstanding Teacher Award.

Threinen consistently works with composers, arrangers, and performing artists of varied disciplines. Residencies and projects with composers are integral to her creative work. Threinen is published in multiple volumes of the GIA Teaching Music Through Performance in Band book series, where she has been recognized as a strong scholarly contributor. She is active, across the nation and abroad (appearances in Australia, Spain, Brazil, and Canada), as a guest conductor, clinician, and conference presenter.

A strong advocate for music education, Threinen is a proud Yamaha Master Educator and serves on the Executive Council of the Institute for Composer Diversity. Threinen served as the conductor for the NAfME All-National Concert Band at the National Conference in Orlando, Florida. Additionally, she is an active member of American Bandmasters Association (ABA), World Association for Symphonic Band and Ensembles (WASBE), College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), Big Ten Band Directors Association (currently serving as President), National Band Association (NBA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and Pi Kappa Lambda and Kappa Kappa Psi as an honorary member.

Threinen is a Minnesota native and a proud alumna of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Class of 1999: Bachelor of Music degrees in clarinet performance and K-12 music education.

Dr. Julia Baumanis is the Assistant Director of Bands at Rutgers University. Her duties include serving as the Assistant Director of the Marching Scarlet Knights, Director of Pep Bands, conducting concert ensembles, and teaching courses in instrumental music. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Baumanis served as the Assistant Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Central Missouri. Dr. Baumanis has also served within the music education community as Multicultural Chair for the Missouri Music Educators Association and on the editorial and design team for The Woman Conductor, the official publication for Women Band Directors International.

A graduate of Florida State University’s College of Music, Dr. Baumanis received her bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education, her master’s degree in instrumental conducting, and her PhD in music education and instrumental conducting. She previously taught public school in south Florida as the Associate Director of Bands and Orchestras at J.P. Taravella High School and the Director of Orchestras at Ramblewood Middle School.

An active performer, educator, and researcher, Dr. Baumanis has presented her research nationally, including at the NAfME Research Symposium, the CBDNA National Conference, FMEA, MMEA, IMEA, and the Desert Skies Music Education Research Symposium. Most recently, her research has focused on developing a conductor’s baton that records data collected from a conductor’s expressive gestures. She hopes to implement this technology in the conducting classroom as a technological tool to assist beginning conductors in developing their craft.

Larry Gookin is Distinguished Professor and Emeritus Professor of Music at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. He served for 34 years as Director of Bands before retiring from CWU in 2015. Prior to teaching at Central, Professor Gookin taught band for ten years in Montana and Oregon public schools.

During his tenure at Central, the CWU Wind Ensemble performed at the College Band Directors National Association Conferences in Boulder and Seattle, the Music Educators National Conference in Minneapolis, the Western International Band Clinics in Seattle, the Western/Northwestern CBDNA Division Conferences in Reno, the Northwest Division NAFME conferences, and numerous WMEA State Conferences.

Gookin served as president of the Northwestern Division of the CBDNA, and Vice President of the Washington Music Educators Association. He is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and the WMEA Hall of Fame and received the University of Oregon’s School of Music Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is former principal trombone of the Eugene and Yakima Symphony Orchestras and is Emeritus Artistic Director and Conductor of the Seattle Wind Symphony.

Professor Gookin received the M.M. in Music Education from the University of Oregon School of Music in 1977 and the B.M in Music Education and Trombone Performance from the University of Montana in 1971.

Professor Gookin has appeared as clinician, adjudicator, and conductor in the United States, Canada, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. He is a Yamaha Master Educator and remains active as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Gookin resides in Ellensburg, Washington with his wife Karen, Emeritus Professor of English at CWU and former piccolo/flutist with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra.

For Questions:

Ron Gerhardstein, Associate Professor of Music; Acting Director of Bands
School of Music, Theatre & Dance; Pacific Lutheran University
(253) 535-7609 e-mail: gerharrc@plu.edu

Abby Deskins, Coordinator of Educational Outreach Programs
College of Professional Studies; Pacific Lutheran University
(253) 535-7877 e-mail: adeskins@plu.edu