Flomaton student is selected to two state honor bands
Homewood High School Band Director and clinician at Troy, Chris Cooper, with Wiggins
Flomaton sixth grader and flautist Kylie Wiggins can now add an honor band member feather to her cap after being the only student and sixth-grader from Escambia County (Ala.) to audition and be accepted as a member of two state honor bands last month.
Students interested in trying out for Middle School Honor Bands must submit an application and be recommended by the school's band director. A committee at the school decides who will be accepted and sands out notices once the final decisions are made.
Troy University hosted about 300 students in grades six through nine in the Southeastern United States Middle School Honor Band Clinic (SEUS) Dec. 5 through 7. About 50 flautists from Alabama, Georgia and Florida were accepted.
On the first day of the clinic, seating auditions required all wind instruments to play three scales and perform sight reading. From those scores, the top musicians were placed in the highest, or Gold Band. All others were seated in the Silver or Cardinal Band based on their scores. Wiggins, the only sixth grader, made ninth chair out of 12 flautists in the Gold Band.
The following week, Wiggins attended the Alabama Middle School Honor Band Festival at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa Dec. 12 and 13. Only 16 flautists were chosen to audition. All musicians were required to play the lyrical etude pre-assigned by the Alabama Bandmaster's Association for the All-State Honor Band tryouts that will be Jan. 25. Wiggins was seated third chair White Band, scoring the sixth-highest out of 16 at the festival. As with SEUS, Wiggins was the only student and sixth-grader from Escambia County to attend the festival.
Flomaton teacher and former band director Candice Roberson stayed after school to work with Wiggins to prepare her for these auditions.
"Kylie has been working weekly since August to achieve her goals," said Roberson. "She is very determined and I am proud of her achievements. She knows what she wants and goes and gets it. I'm so proud of her."
Flomaton's current band director, Adam Atchison, said there is a lot of competition at the honor band auditions from around the regions, especially from older students, so Wiggins' accomplishment is a big one. "Kylie has worked so hard and it's good to see it paying off," said Atchison. "After a student is accepted to this particular event, their placement in one of these bands is decided purely by their audition score, so Kylie must have impressed them with her playing."
Wiggins is the daughter of Dennis and Trisha Wiggins of Flomaton and are proud of their daughter's hard work.
"Many people have expressed their pride in Kylie for her accomplishments in these two honor bands," said Dennis Wiggins. "Suffice it to say her mother and I are very proud of Kylie for her dedication and the hard work she has put in since the beginning of summer. Even though Kylie did all the hard work, when you consider all the people who have worked 'behind the scenes' to help her achieve her goals, it is clear Kylie's success is truly a group effort. I can hardly wait to see what she achieves in the future."
