Date: Oct 10, 2011

Middle School Musical!

Hofstra Hosts 9th Annual Middle School Honors Band Festival, Oct. 20 &21

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY ... Approximately 340 seventh graders will play alongside 110 members of the Hofstra Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble at the ninth annual Middle School Honors Band Festival, hosted by Hofstra University. This music and educational event is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, October 20 and 21, 2011.       
Every fall since 2002, Hofstra University’s Department of Music has hosted the Middle School Honors Band Festival, which welcomes hundreds of seventh graders from Long Island, New York City and occasionally from out of state – New Jersey and Pennsylvania – to work with members of the Hofstra Symphonic Band and a renowned guest composer/conductor who is invited to campus for the event.

 Over the course of the two days, the Hofstra Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble members act as teachers and mentors to their younger counterparts. The mission of the Middle School Honors Band Festival at Hofstra is to encourage middle school students to continue their music education, as well as expose them to the excitement of a university campus.  There is no fee for middle school students to participate.

The first of the two days is a Thursday evening rehearsal where the middle school students work with the Hofstra University Symphonic Band musicians on musical compositions composed by that year’s guest composer/conductor. Over the years, Hofstra has welcomed some of the country's finest composers of educational music for band for this event.  The second meeting takes place on Friday, where the rehearsal continues, followed by a evening concert to which family, friends and teachers are invited.
 
Dr. Peter Loel Boonshaft, conductor of the Hofstra University Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, professor of conducting and music education and director of the Graduate Wind Conducting Program at Hofstra, developed and directs the Middle School Honor Band Festival.

Larry Clark, this year’s guest conductor, a well known composer and arranger of music for band and orchestra. His pieces have been performed internationally and appear on numerous contest/festival performance required music lists. vice president for Carl Fischer Music in New York. At Carl Fischer he serves as editor-in-chief and coordinates all of Carl Fischer's publishing in all genres of music. Prior to this appointment he served as an Instrumental music editor for Warner Bros. Publications in Miami.

Mr. Clark is an ASCAP award-winning composer, has over 200 publications in print and is in demand to write commissions for bands and orchestras across the country. Recent commissions include works for James Madison University Wind Symphony and the Palm Beach County High School Honor Band. His music is characterized by rhythmic verve, colorful scoring and playability at every performance level.

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