A Hit Record! Seneca Valley Students Earn Numerous Seat in Regional, State Bands

The tradition of excellence continues for the Seneca Valley Instrumental Program.

Known for often having the largest number of students participating in regional and state competitions, Seneca Valley band students once again achieved this goal, having the highest number of students from Region 1 who have advanced to the Pennsylvania Music Education Association’s state-wide competition. 

PMEA Region 1 consists of every High School in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Greene, Washington, Fayette, Beaver, Butler, Mercer, and Lawrence counties. 

In the first round of competition, 15 Seneca Valley students were selected to participate in the PMEA Region 1 District Band Festival held at Butler Senior High. Students selected were Maddy Fritch, Josh Zahren, Alex Bark, Elise Park, Sarah Kochis, Stefany Baron, Conner Thompson, Matt Ruwe, Eli Coyle, Dan Eppler, Christina Otteni, Martin Chrzanowski, Patrick O’Connor, Natalie Byers and Sam West.

By audition, students were then selected to move on to the Region 1 Band Festival, which was held earlier this month at Mercer High School.

Students achieving top chairs in their respective sections were Maddy Fritch, Josh Zahren, Alex Bark, Sarah Kochis, Stefany Baron, Matt Ruwe, Eli Coyle, Dan Eppler, Martin Chrzanowski, Natalie Byers, Patrick O’Conner and Sam West.

At the region festival, students were then selected to move on to the prestigious All-State Festival, and they include Josh Zahren, Alex Bark, Sarah Kochis, Matt Ruwe, Dan Eppler, Martin Chrzanowski and Natalie Byers.

The PMEA All-State Festival will be held at the Erie Convention Center, April 17-20. 

“One of the goals of the instrumental music program at Seneca Valley is to continually provide students with a quality music education that allows them to be among the best in the state and this year is certainly no exception,” said Sara Snyder, one of the secondary music teachers.

PMEA District 5 Jazz Band Festival

In February, several Seneca Valley students were selected to participate in the PMEA District 5 Jazz Band Festival that was held at Slippery Rock University. 

Freshman students included Katie Platt, Even Ritchie, Dan Singer and Jacob Beck. Sophomores included Patrick O’Conner, Connor Griffith, Rebecca Danik and Martin Chrzanowski.

From the junior class of instrumentalists were Seth Beck, Natalie Byers, Eli Coyle, Dan Eppler, Kyle Morgan, Nikko Paserba, Matt Ruwe, Jeremiah Scanlan, Alex Steighner and Alex Taylor.

Each year, students involved in the jazz program at Seneca Valley can choose to submit an audition DVD for the All-State Jazz Band, which is held in conjunction with the PMEA State Conference.

Each year, Seneca Valley has been represented in this elite ensemble of 18 performers. This year is no exception as three students from Seneca Valley were selected from across the state to participate.

Chosen this year by competitive audition were Kyle Morgan on Baritone Saxophone, Nikko Paserba on Bass Trombone and Seth Beck on Bass.

SVMS Instrumental Students Chosen for Festival

Members of the eighth grade band submitted recorded auditions for selection in the PMEA Junior High District Band Festival to be held March 26 at Beaver Area High School.

Of the 127 students selected for the ensemble, 25 are from Seneca Valley Middle School.

Earning first chair honors were Urvi Gupta on clarinet, Kim Fitz on French horn, Seb Demetter on trombone and Austin Treu on baritone.

The flute section includes Samantha Kochis, Julia Kooser, Meggie Moore, Regan Kelly and Natalie McKinley.

The clarinet section includes Sammi Logan, Hailey Wehner and Liz Hanks. Emma Lizewski, Dan Popp, Tabby Laine, Calynn Rosenbaum, Maddy Sinan and Ehlana Lingenfelter are part of the trumpet section.

Trombones selected include Matthew Sloan and Nick Garrett. Emily Scanlan and Luci Ferraro are part of the tuba section.

Included in the percussion section were Josh Doms, Emily Kastroll, and Jordan Bender.

Directors at the secondary level involved with the instrumental music program include Robert Matchett, Varden Armstrong, Robert Babick and Snyder.

-- Article submitted by Seneca Valley School District. Have news you'd like to share with Patch readers? Email Editor Jessica Sinichak at jessica.sinichak@patch.com or visit our Pics & Clips Gallery. 

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