WHEN: 
February 9, 2017

WHERE: 
San Antonio, Texas

WHAT: 
New Deal High School Band was selected as Class A/AA Honor Band and will perform at the Texas Music Educators Association convention in San Antonio. Out of over 300 schools in Class A and AA in Texas, New Deal High School was selected as the TMEA Class A/AA Honor Band, the best small school concert band in Texas. Since the competition is only held every other year, only bands from 4 classes were selected as Honor Band this year. They were:

  • 1C Honor Band: Mineola MS Symphonic Band, Melissa Fisher, Director;
  • 1A/2A Honor Band: New Deal HS Lion Pride Band, James Nance, Director
  • 4A Honor Band: China Spring HS Wind Ensemble, Pam Hyatt, Director
  • 6A Honor Band: Brownsville Lopez HS Symphonic Band, George Trevino, Director
  • The Honor Band performances will be held as part of the annual TMEA Clinic/Convention, Feb. 8-11, 2017. Over 29,000 people from Texas and beyond will attend over 280 workshops, 100 performances, and visit over 1,300 exhibit booths at this nation’s largest music educators convention.

MORE INFO: 
https://www.tmea.org/conventions/2017/about/performances/performing-groups
James Nance 806-392-7872

The New Deal Lion Pride Band will perform as Texas Class A/AA Honor Band at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 9, 2017 in the Lila Cockrell Theater at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center as part of the 2017 Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention in San Antonio. They were chosen for this prestigious honor through a competitive process held last summer across the state. The New Deal High School Band is under the direction of James Nance and David Speer, who are members of the Texas Music Educators Association, a 12,000+ member organization headquartered in Austin. This is the first time that New Deal has been selected as Honor Band and comes on the heels of a UIL Class AA State Marching Championship won in the 2015-16 school year. There have been only two other bands in Honor Band history to be selected as Honor Band while reigning as State Marching Champion.

The Texas Music Educators Association is an association of over 12,000 school music educators dedicated to promoting excellence in music education. Go to www.tmea.org/convention for more information.

Honor Band History
The concept of the Honor Band originated during the term of Joe Frank, Sr., who served as Band Division Chair from 1958 to 1960. The purpose was twofold. Many educators believed that through the process of hearing and observing the results of quality teaching, directors could develop their own instructional skills to a higher level. In addition, selection of an honor band in each classification recognized communities and school systems that successfully supported music in education through their instrumental music programs.
Through the years, participation has been active and the recognition of exemplary programs through the Honor Band selection process has become a most sought after goal by many directors. As a result, the quality of honor groups has remained high and the original purpose of growth and development through observation of superior teaching and performance has been addressed annually and maintains its validity. Teachers throughout the state have definitely had the opportunity to learn from master teachers by attending honor band performances and clinics.

(News release from New Deal ISD)