The Chadron State College music department is hosting over 230 high school musicians from nearly 2 dozen schools in 3 states Monday and Tuesday for the 41st annual High Band and Choir Music Festival.

The High Plains Festival was started by Chadron State to give high school musicians a chance to work with talented peers and gain teaching and guidance from college professors.

CSC music faculty member and festival coordinator Brooks Hafey says the young  musicians submitted audition recordings last fall with the CSC music faculty selecting the participants for the 4 groups: honor band, honor choir, festival band, and women’s choir.

Three of the directors are CSC faculty members…Dr Sidney Shuler for the Festival Band, Dr Joel Schreuder for the Honor Choir, and Dr Una Taylor for the Women’s Choir.

Serving as clinician and director of the Festival Band is Youngstown State University Director of Athletic Bands and music professor Dr Brandt Payne. Brandt has also taught at the University of Hawaii and was interim Associate Director of Bands and studio trombone teacher at the University of Wyoming for a year.

Payne is a trombonist as well as director, the author of several articles in music education journals and the International Trombone Association Journal, and a sought-after adjudicator and clinician.

While students are in rehearsal, their 30 or so high school directors have the opportunity of attending reading sessions and clinics that focus on their areas of teaching expertise. Hafey says Payne will lead a clinic on conducting, including matching gestures with the music.

Hafey says there will be two free public performances during the festival, one this afternoon at 3:00 featuring CSC musicans and the other tomorrow afternoon at 5:00 with the four festival groups.

Hafey…who joined CSC this school year as an instructor and accompanist…says he knew when he took that position that he’d been in charge of the High Plains Festival, but had no idea how much work it would be…especially after the retirement of longtime music department secretary Judy Rutter.