Glacier High band invited to top music conference

The Glacier High School Symphonic Band has been invited to perform at a Northwest music conference in February.

The Northwest division of MENC: The National Association for Music Education, holds its annual conference in Bellevue, Wash., Feb. 17 through 21.

The conference brings together musicians from Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

More than 110 ensembles submitted audition CDs for a chance to play at the 2011 conference.

A little more than 35 were invited to participate.

“These honored groups represent the very best out of the multiple categories from elementary to collegiate as well as community ensembles,” Debbie Glaze, division president, said in an e-mail to Glacier band director David Barr.

The Glacier High Symphonic Band has been invited to be a demonstration group at the conference.

Its session, scheduled for Feb. 18, is tentatively called “Band Literature for Difficult Instrumentation.”

Barr called the opportunity to perform there “a huge honor.”

“Just being invited is incredible,” he wrote in an e-mail to the Inter Lake.

There are about 50 students in symphonic band, Barr said.

Each student will need to raise about $375 to go.

The first fundraiser — annual fruit sales — begins in November.