Wisconsin Concert Band Association
2024 Fall Newsletter
Greetings WCBA Colleagues,
My name is Katie Prihoda, and I am honored to serve as the new President of the Wisconsin Concert Band Association. A huge thank you to Kristen Kirch for serving as our President these past few years, and for helping our organization to not only navigate the rough waters of Covid, but also facilitating a seamless transition from the NBA-WC to an independent organization. Thank you for your service, Kristen – we appreciate all you’ve done for the WCBA!
We are excited for our convention to held again at UW-Whitewater and hosted by Dr. Glenn Hayes on January 16-19, 2025. Plan to join us for a great weekend of clinics and performances! Highlights of our convention include amazing guest conductors:
WCBA Intercollegiate Band – Erika Svanoe, Director
WCBA All-State Band – Alexander Kaminsky, Director
WCBA All-State Junior Band – Kati Seiter, Director
In addition, the Intercollegiate Band will be premiering the WCBA Commission, “Bolerobot” by Erika Svanoe! If you’re interested in joining the commission consortium, please check out the WCBA website for more information.
We are excited to welcome four guest bands who were selected to perform at our convention based on their outstanding recording submissions:
Friday, January 17th, 2025
Logan High School Wind Symphony – Mark Lakmann, director
Arrowhead Union High School Wind Ensemble – Jacob Polanchich, director
Saturday, January 18th , 2025
Mosinee High School Symphonic Band – Tyler Schuster, director
Muskego High School Wind Ensemble – James Beckman and Matt Mueller, directors
We hope to see you in January 2025 for our annual Convention!
As always, the summer seems to have gone by way too fast, and many of us are already in the midst of lesson planning, picking repertoire, football games, parades, and performances. Be sure to make time for yourself to rest and recharge amidst all of the demands and responsibilities of teaching! I hope you all have a wonderful start to the school year, and I look forward to seeing you soon, either at our convention or at our WMEA conference booth.
Music Educator, Tomah Middle School
Tomah Area School District
President, Wisconsin Concert Band Association
WCBA Directors Awards
The Wisconsin Concert Band Association is proud to announce a series of new awards to be
presented at the annual WCBA Convention. The awards will be presented for the first time at
the 39th WCBA Convention in Whitewater, WI on Saturday, January 18, 2025. Please take the
time to read the descriptions of these awards and nominate worthy individuals. Click the
below link to access the nomination form. Nominations are due by November 15, 2024.
Harvard Erdman Lifetime Achievement Award:
Established in 2024, this award was named for one of the founders of WCBA, Harvard Erdman,
who served for many years as the secretary of WCBA. Harv was the director of bands at
Wautoma High School. This award does not have to be awarded every year but is to be reserved
for individuals of outstanding merit. CRITERIA: Candidate must be a current or former resident
of Wisconsin who has demonstrated a commitment to instrumental music through teaching,
conducting, or service to the art and who has made outstanding contributions to instrumental
music in Wisconsin.
Dr. Edgar P. Thiessen Distinguished Service Award:
Established in 2024, and named in honor of Dr. Edgar P. Thiessen, a founding member of WCBA.
Edgar Thiessen was the director of bands at Lakeland College and Silver Lake College. He was
also the conductor of the Kiel Municipal Band. CRITERIA: Candidate must be an individual
whose contributions to the organization are exemplary and/or go beyond the normal services
provided for the operation of Wisconsin Concert Band Association.
Outstanding Young Band Director Award:
Established in 2024, this award honors teachers with ten or fewer years of experience.
CRITERIA: Candidate must be a current WCBA member who exhibits characteristics of a master
teacher, including enthusiasm, energy, musicianship, student rapport, and professionalism; who
has made a considerable impact on the size, quality of performance, festival involvement, and
visibility of the program; and who has made a commitment to the community through civic
band organizations, youth activities, or civic service organizations.
Outstanding Band Director Award:
Established in 2024, to recognize significant contributions as a school band director. CRITERIA:
Candidate must be a current WCBA member with a minimum of ten years of experience who
exhibits characteristics of a master teacher of students within grades 5 – 12.
Award Requests for students/parents
The Wisconsin Concert Band Association is proud to sponsor a number of awards for students and parents. These awards are available free to WCBA members and can be obtained from the WCBA Awards Chairperson. Please use the link below to request awards.
2025 Convention Information
Convention Registration is NOW OPEN!!! 😁
UW-Whitewater - January 16-19, 2025
Please click the link below to register!
2025 Intercollegiate Honor Band
We are proud to announce that our conductor for the 2025 Intercollegiate Honors Band to be composer Erica Svanoe. The group will be debuting Svanoe’s WCBA Commision piece, Bolerobot. If you would like to donate to the consortium, please contact Ryan Waldhart or myself.
The Intercollegiate Band will rehearse on evening of Thursday, January 16, and the day Friday, January 17, 2025 at the UW-Whitewater Campus. The group will perform at 9:00 pm Friday evening.
The program for the concert will be:
Outdoor Overture by Aaron Copland
Vulnerable Joy by Jodie Blackshaw
Over the Blue & Green by Clare Howard
Bolerobot by Erika Svanoe (premiere)
Prestissimo by Karl L. King
Applications will be sent to directors the first week of September and will be available on the WCBA website under the Intercollegiate Band. Applications are due Friday, October 11, 2024.
WCBA Intercollegiate Honors Band
WCBA All-State Band Update
Alex Kaminsky will conduct the 2025 WCBA All-State Band. (Bio Below)
The fee for the experience is $135. This includes all meals, one night of housing, a t-shirt, fees for the conductor, etc.
Please consider having your top musicians apply for this activity. This year, there are two links. One for student applications and one for band director information. You only need to fill out the band director information form once:
Timeline for the Year
October 13 Applications are due
November 1 The roster is posted, and the directors are notified by email
November 15 The music and forms are available to the directors
December 2 Payments and forms Due by Mail
January 17-18 Event at UW-Whitewater
Alexander Kaminsky was appointed Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at VanderCook College of Music in 2019 after a highly successful tenure at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Before that, Kaminsky led the band programs at Buchholz High School, Lincoln High School, Auburndale High School, and Cocoa Beach Jr/Sr High School, all of which excelled under his direction. He holds degrees from the University of Florida and Indiana University, is active as an adjudicator, and is in demand as a guest conductor/clinician across the country.
Throughout his 30-year career as a high school band director, Kaminsky’s ensembles consistently earned Superior ratings at all levels of evaluation. In addition to earning straight Superior ratings at the Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA) State Concert Band Assessment for an unprecedented 21 years (the last 11 years with both his first and second bands), he is the only director in the history of the FBA to have had three concert bands from one school earn straight Superior ratings at State. He achieved this three times (2009, 2018, and 2019).
Kaminsky’s high school bands performed at the Midwest Clinic (2005, 2009, 2014, and 2018), ABA National Convention (2014), CBDNA/NBA Southern Division Conference (2004 and 2014), FMEA State Conference (2014), Music for All National Concert Band Festival (2002 and 2012), and the National Wind Band Festival at Carnegie Hall (2009 and 2018). In 2018, the Stoneman Douglas Wind Symphony was named a Mark of Excellence National Wind Band Honors winner as one of only ten 6A bands in the nation. His marching bands consistently placed in the Florida Marching Band State Championship Finals, winning several FMBC State Championships (including 4 of his last 6 years as a high school band director), as well as being named a finalist band at BOA regional competitions.
WCBA ALL-STATE JUNIOR BAND
I hope everyone is having a great start to their school year. We wanted to reach out to give you some information about the 2025 WCBA All-State Junior Band!
First, Katie Prihoda has taken over the duties of WCBA President, we would like to introduce ourselves as the new co-chairs for the WCBA All-State Junior Band. First, from the Wausau School District, we have Jacob Jorstad. Working with Jacob is Ryan Waldhart from West Salem Middle School. Jacob worked closely with Katie at this year’s convention in Whitewater and Ryan has been with the WCBA over his 25-year career. Thank you to Katie for continuing the strong tradition of the ASJB, and best wishes in your leadership role! For the next two years while Katie is President, please contact either one of us (Jacob or Ryan) with any questions or concerns about the ASJB.
Next, we are excited for the 2025 WCBA All-State Junior Band! Directors have consistently nominated their best students for this ensemble and we invite you to do the same again this year. This year’s group will be conducted by Kati Seiter, a music educator in Oregon, WI. If you have never had students participate in the All-State Junior Band, don’t hesitate to nominate them for this great event!
The fee for this year will remain at $45 per student.
T-Shirts are now included in this price. Please ask students about their T-Shirt size at the beginning of the school year. This will make the nomination process a lot easier!
PLEASE NOTE…NOMINATIONS ARE TO BE SUBMITTED VIA FORM BELOW (also found on our website)
Please take the time to nominate three or four of your best students for our all-state group. The nomination form must be completed no later than October 13th…Deadlines will be enforced without exception. PRIOR to nominating students, please make sure that students ARE able to attend the honor band. Please also note that we also have one form for directors to fill out (instead of having to enter director info multiple times 🙂 )
September 1 through October 13: directors enter nominations via website
November 1: rosters posted and directors notified via email
November 15: music and forms available to directors
December 2: payments and forms due to Ryan via US Mail
January 18 : All-State Junior Band at UW-Whitewater
It is expected that directors register for the convention…please watch for convention registration information.
Above and Beyond James Swearingen
Carpathia William Owens
Bazaar Randall Standridge
Alpine Meadow Cait Nishimura
Drive Mark Williams
Jacob Jorstad and Ryan Waldhart, All-State Junior Band Co-Chairs
2025 Commission Project
We are excited to have 9 participants thus far, in our partnership between WCBA and composer, Erika Svanoe. We are excited to have the 2025 WCBA Intercollegiate All-State Band premiere this coming January at UW-Whitewater. We still have spots available on the consortium for only $250. Reserve your spot by filling out the short form below. Here are some details:
The consortium is an original work for wind band with a difficulty level of approximately grade 4-5, with a minimum duration of 6 minutes. The subject matter of the piece will based on the title concept “Bolérobot.” It will utilize the melody of Ravel’s Boléro, which enters the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2025. Conceptually, the piece will follow the story of our robot in a pinocchio type journey as they/it strives to become more human. It will start with motivic pieces of the melody at the beginning stated in repetitive patterns, and will gradually form into a full statement of Ravel’s melody as our robot self actualizes near the end of the piece.