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  • Derrick Miller/The Duncan Banner Duncan High School Band director Jeramy Haas works with his students on holiday tunes for the annual Christmas concert, which is 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, 2012. Derrick Miller/The Duncan Banner

    DHS Band warms up for the holidays.jpg

  • Duncan High School Band members who achieved recognition by being accepted to the All-State Band included Mason Bivens, who accepted a spot on the All-State Jazz Band, Chris Prather, Kody Garis and Scott Haas. Derrick Miller/The Duncan Banner

    DHS Band All State.jpg
December 8, 2012

DHS Band warms up for Christmas Concert

Derrick Miller The Duncan Banner

DUNCAN — For Christmas, the Duncan High School Band will give the gift of music.

The band, along with the percussion ensemble and the Duncan Middle School Band, will perform its Christmas concert at 7 p.m. Monday at the DHS Auditorium. There is no admission charge for the event.

“There will be a variety of music, from traditional Christmas music to different versions of Christmas music,” Band Director Jeramy Haas said. “The middle school students will be doing a James Bond version of ‘Jolly Saint Nick.’

“It’s just a lot of fun to do those different versions. There will be something for everybody in those concerts.”

The band students made the transition from marching season to Christmas music around the beginning of November, Haas said. He said the students have spent about a month getting prepared for the Christmas concert. But that’s not all they’ve been doing, he said.

The students have also been playing during basketball games and were participants in the Veterans Day and Christmas parades in Duncan.

“There’s a lot of different activities going on,” Haas said. “We working on different types of new music all the time.”

He said this has been a successful year for the band so far.

Four students (Mason Bivens, Kody Garis, Scott Haas and Chris Prather) were accepted into the All-State Band. Bivens was also accepted to the All-State Jazz Band, which he chose over the All-State Band, where he would have been second chair trumpet.

In all, only 110 students were accepted to the All-State Band. In all, 1,300 students from around the state competed for a spot on the band, and the DHS Band took 13 students to the second round. Haas said tryouts can be intensive for the students.

“They have to work up music in four weeks to perfection,” Haas said. “It’s a very competitive spot. All-State is the highest individual can earn in a music program.”

This isn’t the only success the DHS Band has had in recent months.

The band also competed in the Oklahoma Band Association marching competition and superior ratings (the highest rating) from all judges. Haas said this puts the band on the road heading toward another possible consecutive sweepstakes win in the spring.

“We had a good marching season,” he said. “The band really improved on their show.”

The band was ranked fourth out of all the 4A and 5A high school bands who competed in the competition. Haas said this is the highest ranking the band has received since 2000.

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