Marshall's Department of Music will march to a different beat this weekend as the annual Marshall University Festival Band comes to campus.
The festival is a three-day music-making experience in which high school students from West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky are nominated by their band directors to participate in.
"This is a unique opportunity because the high school students will have the chance to be in a very large ensemble," said Ben Miller, assistant band director and percussion instructor.
Miller said the festival begins with each student auditioning for one of three bands, the John Marshall band, the Thundering Herd band and the Marco's Marauder Band. The students are then placed in a band of approximately 100 students at their same skill level to rehearse for Saturday's performance.
"It's a really good opportunity for the high schoolers to get outside of their normal areas," said Jenna Palmer, senior social studies education major from Bridgeport and member of the honorary band group, Kappa Kappa Psi. "It gives them a challenge to play something at our level."
"In addition to the new experience, they will have the chance to spend hours working with a new band director, someone whom they are not used to," Miller said. "Sometimes the band director back home has one way of doing things, and so now the students will have an experience of doing things a second way - just get a different outlook of doing things."
Miller said the students will also have an opportunity to attend a master class where they receive specific instruction on their instrument.
"In this master class, the students will have the chance to better themselves on their particular instrument by being taught by an expert or one of our faculty members," Miller said. "It's like a class music lesson."
"It helps, especially upcoming juniors who are thinking about going into music and seniors, to give them the chance to work to where they need to be in order to come here as a freshman," Palmer said.
Not only is the festival a great opportunity for students to receive fresh instruction and an additional experience, but it is also a recruitment tool for the Department of Music.
"This is just one more opportunity to get potential students on our campus to meet our faculty, see our facilities and experience what Marshall is about," Miller said.
Palmer said because Kappa Kappa Psi runs a majority of the festival that it also gives them a chance to promote band and generate interest in their organization.
"Our motto, Kappa Kappa Psi's, is to strive for the highest, and it's kind of our way to adjust them to strive to be what they want to be," Palmer said.
Miller said the high school students will have the opportunity to see and hear the quality of things Marshall students are doing.
"It gives them the opportunity to see what's expected of us, because sometimes we'll go in like a guinea pig to demonstrate," Palmer said.
"We have been able to put on a quality event that's well run and that's well organized," Miller said. "The band directors feel confident that the information we're giving and how it is presented is worthwhile. The students seem to enjoy themselves."
The Marshall University Festival Band will kick off Thursday evening and continue until Saturday evening. The student's concerts begin Saturday at 4 p.m. as the conclusion of the festival.
"Hopefully, they will get a number of positive musical and culture experiences," Miller said.
Jodee Hammond can be contacted at hammond32@marshall.edu.
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