NAfME's All-National Honor Modern Band Ensemble

For the past decade, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) has highlighted performances of some of the country's best student performers as part of their All-National Honors Ensembles (ANHE). Students in concert band, orchestra, jazz band, and mixed choir have come together, working alongside professional conductors, honing their skills, meeting new peers, and putting on amazing performances. When discussing the growth of this program, ANHE Program Chair Scott Sheenan said "It's the music many students listen to every day and to be able to put that kind of music on the same stage as the other ensembles shows that popular music is just as important as any other music" As directors of this inaugural ensemble, we learned a lot from these students and felt like the best way to hear about this experience was primarily through the eyes of a few of the participants. If I wouldn't have picked up music, I'd probably be running the streets and doing stuff that I shouldn't be doing. Because that's just what happens where I'm from.