Region’s top band students are in Gaston County for all-district clinic

Again this year, Gaston County Schools is hosting the South Central All-District Band Clinic at Stuart W. Cramer High School on January 27-28.  

The top band students from across the Charlotte region will spend time on Friday and Saturday morning preparing music for the concert, which will be held on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. as the culminating activity of the two-day clinic.  The concert is open to the public.

Gaston County Schools has 18 students among the outstanding musicians who are participating in the all-district band program.  The students will be led by nationally-recognized clinicians, who are considered among the best in the field of music education. 

The following middle school and high school students from Gaston County Schools were selected for the all-district band clinic:

• Mackenzie Hart, oboe - Stanley Middle School
• Cyrus Baltimore, trombone - Stanley Middle School
• Annabelle Radford, bassoon - Cramerton Middle School
• Hannah Lineberger, bassoon - Belmont Middle School
• Ada Hartge, clarinet - Belmont Middle School
• Carson Phillips, clarinet - Belmont Middle School
• Ayden Kisby-Jones, contrabass clarinet - W.C. Friday Middle School
• Khalil Houston, trumpet - W.C. Friday Middle School
• Catherine Putnam, French horn - W.C. Friday Middle School
• Danny Major, baritone - W.C. Friday Middle School
• Ruby Ruiz, clarinet - North Gaston High School
• Anakin Booth, tenor saxophone - South Point High School
• Jerry Bradley, tuba - South Point High School
• Alexa Laycock, alto saxophone - South Point High School
• Jake Perryman, clarinet - East Gaston High School
• Hayden Dillard, trumpet - East Gaston High School
• Mattie Grace Branham, tuba - East Gaston High School
• Eben Mathis, percussion - Forestview High School
  
  

Karen Williams-Lanning from Swain County Middle School in Bryson City will conduct the middle school concert band.  Andrew Boysen, Jr. is presently a professor in the music department at the University of New Hampshire and will conduct the middle school symphonic band.  Sean Smith from Rugby Middle School in Hendersonville and former director at A.C. Reynolds High School and East Henderson High School will conduct the high school band for grades 9-10, and Rossano Galante, a composer from New York and California specializing in film composition, will conduct the high school band for grades 11-12.