On March 14 students in the Argyle Band traveled to Fort Worth to play for  the American Bandmaster Association (ABA) which, “is an honorary organization, that is a service oriented organization, perpetuated to support music education,” says Director of Bands, Kathy Johnson.

Students from the Argyle High School Wind Ensemble were chosen to perform for professional musicians who have traveled from around the nation.

“These are people that are members of ABA are kind of the elite of music, music education, and for our field,” Johnson said. “For example, [they are] conductors of university bands, conductors of professional ensembles and the military ensembles which are the best wind bands in the world.”

This is rare opportunity for these students because not many high school bands ever get to perform at ABA conferences, especially for a crowd of this prestige. 

“For our students to be able to come and perform for these people is a big honor and of course their ears are going to be pretty astute and of course they [the students] want to do a good job,” Johnson said.

Although these students were a little nervous, in the end everyone had an unforgettable experience.

“This opportunity was very enriching and awesome, because we were able to play for very established individuals within the music education community”, said student Ashlyn Bush.