Senior County Band an FAHS Tradition

Sophomores, juniors, and seniors were recently eligible to audition for Senior County Band. Fleetwood’s musical department has always had an amazing reputation, and this year’s Senior County results were no exception.

Sophomore Taylor Delehanty, who plays clarinet III, was overjoyed to have made the cut: “It felt great to make it. I worked extremely hard and put a lot of time into the audition piece. It also felt very rewarding to beat seniors and people who have been playing much longer than I.”

Delehanty plans to continue auditioning during both her junior and senior years as well.

Another sophomore, Abe Jacobyansky, who plays Baritone Saxophone, also expressed his sense of accomplishment: “It is pretty cool making it my first year. It also makes me more confident about trying out for things in the future.”

“To the best of my knowledge,” said band director Charles Ebersole, “we’ve been attending since the 1950’s or 60’s when Berks County began their festivals.  Senior Counties is a music festival for Band, Orchestra, and Chorus students. They audition for the respective groups in the fall by learning a solo piece of music and scales. The try-outs are often very competitive, so it is truly an honor to be accepted into the group.  We had fourteen students make it last year, and this year twenty were accepted as a result of their auditions.”

Ebersole continued, “When students audition for honors bands, I am always glad that they took the initiative to learn the scales and the extra music. However, to have so many make the group is rare, and I am happy that we did so well.”

Other Fleetwood students attending Senior County Band include Elizabeth Bergman, Sarah Miller, Piper O’Keefe, Laura Schwartz, Summer Lileck, Elizabeth Tracy, Kristin Hartman, Josh Hartman, Steven Toney, Aaron Nelson, Jordan Shomper, Emily Metcalf, Isaac Moore, Kevin Stephen, Ryan Schlegel, Robert Paganelli, Dorie Wolford, and Erin Phillips.