By NICK KIMANZI
Student Reporter
The Northwestern Oklahoma State University community band and jazz band will hold a concert on Sunday.
The concert will be held at Herold Hall auditorium on Sun., Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. The doors open at 1:30 p.m. The performance is open to the public. Dr. Ed Huckeby, who is guest conducting the concert, composed the pieces that will be played.
Huckeby is an arts consultant and freelance composer, arranger conductor and clinician. He currently holds the title of Emeritus Professor of Music at Northwestern, where he served for two decades as Music Department Chairman and dean.
“He has a very industrious career; now we are having him helping us with conducting the band,” said Dr. Marc Decker, director of Instrumental Music and Music Education at Northwestern. “The exciting part is that Ed Huckeby will be the conductor,” Decker said. “It will be great for our students.”
Another upcoming band event is the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) District Band Contest.
The contest is scheduled for Tues., March 1. Northwestern is hosting this contest, which will take place in Herold Hall Auditorium.
The concert judges will be Darby Cassaday, Edward Dixon and Tony Martinez and the site-reading judge will be Curt Wieland.
The participating bands are mostly high school bands from the northwest Oklahoma region.
The bands come to this contest to receive ratings and comments and to qualify to go to state competitions.
“It’s not a contest; it’s a festival. We are not competing against each other, and we are competing against the standard of performance,” said Dr. Karsten Longhurst, Director of Choral Studies. “It’s great to see Northwestern as a hub of western art where high schools come to perform and get rated.”
The contest will start at 8:30 a.m. and will be open and free for the public to attend.
“It would be really a fun day,.Come support your school, it’s free,” Decker said.