Over Valentine’s Day weekend, the PMEA Region V Band was held at East Stroudsburg South High School. The Region V Band is comprised of the finest student musicians in over 130 schools. During this event, junior Luke Simons re-auditioned and was selected for the PMEA All-State Band. Luke is the first Southern Lehigh student to be selected for the All-State Band since 2010.

In order to be selected for State Band, students must first successfully audition for district band. Then, during district band, students re-audition for an opportunity to play in the region band. Luke Simons was the only Southern Lehigh student to be selected for the Region V Band this year. At the same time as Region V Band students audition for State Band.

The state band festival will be held in Hershey from March 25-28. Brian Balmages, a Concert Band Composer, will be the All-State Band guest conductor this year.

Simons has been playing the clarinet for seven years. This was his fourth year auditioning for district band and the first he had the opportunity to make it all the way to state band. Simons said he was nervous during these auditions, but he believes that sometimes nerves are good because they keep you on your toes.

In order to prepare for the shows, students must practice and are expected to know their pieces in order to have good rehearsals. For the state band festival, all-state musicians will rehearse together for two days.

“It feels great to be selected for the state band,” Simons said. “I’ve been working hard all year…I was happy to do well in each of my re-auditions and I am proud to say I made state band as a junior.”

Next, Simons plans to send a tape to national band to see where that could take him. His next area of focus in music is preparing for college auditions.