McCarthy Tuba Player Joins John Philip Sousa National Honor Bands

McCarthy Middle School 7th grade Band Student Erick Lee was selected to participate in the John Philip Sousa National Honor Bands Performances in the New England Region on April 24, 25 and 26, 2014. This event was hosted at Gorham Middle School in Gorham, Maine. 

The festival was open to the most outstanding woodwind, brass, and percussion players from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont in grades 7-12. A concert was held at the conclusion of the festival on April 26, 2014 in the McCormack Performing Arts Center at Gorham High School.

There were two honor bands who performed: One group was an honors Symphonic Band, consisting primarily of students from grades 9 through 12.  The second group was an honors Junior Concert Band, consisting primarily of students from grades 7 and 8. The principal guest conductor was Jay S. Gephart who conducted the Symphonic Band. Mr. Gephart joined the faculty of Purdue University in the fall of 1995 after having completed 12 years as a public school band director. Ms. Pamela Potter conducted the Junior Concert Band. Ms. Potter was named Music Director and Conductor of the Quincy Park Band in 1993, the second director in the band's 60- year history.

The John Philip Sousa Foundation offers many dynamic programs to support the cause of wind band music around the country as a way to bring honor to that most famous and respected of bandsmen, John Philip Sousa. One of the Foundation’s most popular events is the John Philip Sousa National Honors Band, which is organized every two years. The band is open, by application, to all outstanding band students from throughout the United States. This program has been in existence for many years and has created outstanding opportunities for some of the most competent high school musicians in the country to come together and make music in the finest honors band setting. 

More information about this festival is available at the following website: http://www.sousabandsnewengland.com or by calling (978) 895-2856.

Photo attached: Erick Lee, tuba, center

For more information, please contact McCarthy Middle School Band Directors Allison Lacasse at lacassea@chelmsford.k12.ma.us and Sean Wright at wrights@chelmsford.k12.ma.us. 

For more information about the McCarthy Middle School, please visit http://www.chelmsford.k12.ma.us/mccarthy