St. Mary's Honor Band Students

OWATONNA — Verity Wray-Raabolle, Zachary Liebl and John Pfeifer, all students at St. Mary’s school, have been selected for membership in the Minnesota Band Directors Association (MBDA) sixth through eighth grade Honor Band for the 2016-2017 school year.

They are three of 86 students selected from 274 who auditioned this winter for a position in this group, said Becky Berkley, band and music instructor at St. Mary’s. The MBDA Honor Band will rehearse on April 22 and perform a concert April 23 at Chanhassen High School.

This was actually the first time Berkley had students audition for this honor band. The competition is robust. Even though it’s a sixth through eighth grade band, not one sixth-grader made the cut this year, for example.

OWATONNA — Verity Wray-Raabolle, Zachary Liebl and John Pfeifer, all students at St. Mary’s school, have been selected for membership in the Minnesota Band Directors Association (MBDA) sixth through eighth grade Honor Band for the 2016-2017 school year.

They are three of 86 students selected from 274 who auditioned this winter for a position in this group, said Becky Berkley, band and music instructor at St. Mary’s. The MBDA Honor Band will rehearse on April 22 and perform a concert April 23 at Chanhassen High School.

This was actually the first time Berkley had students audition for this honor band. The competition is robust. Even though it’s a sixth through eighth grade band, not one sixth-grader made the cut this year, for example.

“I’ve been in a few other honor bands, but nothing like this,” Wray-Raabolle said. “It’ll be really fun.”

“It’s a higher level of music,” Berkley said. The MBDA knows “they are getting the best kids, so they can pick challenging music.”

“You really have to make it,” said Liebl, who plays trombone. “This is the most advanced band I’ve ever played in.”

Unlike many other honor bands, which can be more of “a numbers game” and/or rely solely on a recommendation from a band teacher, the MBDA version is truly based on merit because students have to audition, Berkley said. They are then judged on a number of factors, which Berkley knows well. She was a judge for ninth- and 10th-grade flutists this year.

Judges listen for musicians who are able to hit all the notes, tone quality, tempo, musicality and style, she said.

“They want whole musicians,” she said.

Wray-Raabolle, Liebl and Pfeifer, all of whom in their fourth years of playing their respective instruments, are all "leaders in their sections," Berkley said.

"I knew they’d be interested,” she said, adding that the three eighth graders “have a seriousness about music.”

Wray-Raabolle had not auditioned for this band before she did so in November, thinking “it would be a good opportunity” as well as a launching point for her impending high school band career, she said. The MBDA sent the various materials to Berkley, who then put then in the hands of her students so they could prepare.

“I like to always challenge myself, and music has many ways to challenge yourself,” Wray-Raabolle said. “There’s always something new and fun to try.”

Students recorded the selections sent to them by the MBDA for auditions, she said. They could record them as many times as they wanted to, which led to students wondering just how good was good enough.

“I’m a perfectionist,” Wray-Raabolle said. Eventually, she got to a point where “this was as good as I can do it.”

Liebl wasn’t as painstaking with most of his recording, he said. However, “I did the last one like 10 times.”

While Liebl was “surprised” to qualify, Pfeifer was not, said Pfeifer, who plays clarinet.

“I felt good about my audition,” he said.

Wray-Raabolle, Liebl and Pfeiffer were thankful they each found success with their auditions because they didn’t want only one to qualify and send that person alone, but they also didn’t want one to be left out of the mix, either, Liebl said.

“We wanted to either all make it, or none of us make it,” said Liebl.

When they learned they’d been accepted into the band, they also received the music they’ll be playing for the concert in order to practice.

All three are most looking forward to playing the soundtrack from “The Incredibles."

“When trombone has a great part [in a piece], you know it’s going to be epic,” said Liebl.

Wray-Raabolle, Liebl, and Pfeiffer are all jack-of-all-trades musicians, as each play instruments other than the ones they used to qualify for this honors band. All three play piano, and Wray-Raabolle plays tenor saxophone and piccolo, while Liebl is also working on baritone horn.

“My main instrument is piano,” which he’s been playing for eight years, Pfeiffer said. “It’s by far my favorite.”

Flute “seems very hard to pick up, but once you get it, you run with it, as long as you practice,” Wray-Raabolle said. “You have to practice.”

Indeed, Liebl said he learned this year the value of practice.

“I wasn’t really good until this year,” he said. “I wanted to get better, so I started practicing more.”

For Wray-Raabolle, the goal is 140 minutes a week of practice with her flute, she said. “I normally get there.”

Liebl observed “you can make people feel anything with music.”

“I love all music,” he added. “Any good instrument sounds amazing.”