CLEARFIELD, PA- One local high school band student has ended the dry streak for Clearfield High School Band after competing in the PMEA Region III Band at Altoona recently. Nathanial Stewart, a senior at Clearfield High School will be attending the All-State Wind Ensemble in the Poconos in April.
Six students from Clearfield High School participated in PMEA Region III Band at Altoona last week, and after a competitive audition, Stewart was ranked as one of the top nine student euphonium players in the state.
The last time a band student from Clearfield High School attended States was back in 2013.
Clearfield High School Band Director, Phillip Wyant, explains the process, “PMEA (Pennsylvania Music Educators Association) is responsible for the All-State Honors Ensembles. There are twelve districts in PA and only a few students are selected to compete in districts. After a student is selected for districts, they have to audition in front of at least two music educators who score them based on tone, musicianship, rhythm, etc. From here, the top students advance to regions and then All-State.”
Wyant continues, “In Nathanial’s case, only the first chair (musician’s version of first place) euphonium gets to move on. That means that at this point we can confidently say that Nathanial has been ranked as one of the top six (one from each region) student euphonium players in the state of Pennsylvania. That is pretty incredible!”
“I was lucky enough to have started Nathanial on the euphonium in elementary school, so I am especially proud to see him thriving musically like he is. This is only my second year as the high school band director, so I did not do much to help Nathaniel. I made myself available to answer questions and help if he got stuck with anything, but he is the one that poured in the hours of practice that it takes to make it to this level,” Wyant exclaims.
Stewart is also involved in jazz band, orchestra, choir and was drum major this year. In his spare time he also enjoys hiking, kayaking and playing guitar.
“I do think it is important to note here, that music isn’t quite like sports. When people hear “made states,” sometimes we draw false equivalencies. The purpose of music is not to compete and win, but rather to come together to make something beautiful that is bigger than any one of us; it’s about how we feel when we perform. We are not defined or justified by our number of wins. Clearfield has a long and impressive history of musical excellence that we are all extremely proud to be a part of and carry on, but we utilize the PMEA festivals to give students the opportunity to find that musical beauty on a larger scale. And sure, maybe to scratch that competitive itch, as well. Winning is just icing on the cake.”
The following six students participated in PMEA Region III Band at Altoona last week: Esmé Coffman (2nd chair), Samantha Gardner (7th chair), Ian Gibson (3rd chair), Madilyn Johnston (4th chair), Riley Robison (4th chair), and Nathaniel Stewart (1st chair).
