47th UTM Honor Band Festival

Fill out the application form.

Audition Materials

• First parts of the repertoire for each student’s band will serve as the source for the audition excerpts. Students should prepare all parts to the best of their ability. 

Scales

• Middle School – 2 major scales (up to three sharps/flats) & Chromatic Scale (Bb-Bb)

• HS – 2 Major Scales (up to 5 sharps/flats) & Chromatic Scale (Bb-Bb)

Percussionists

• Plan to play 2 major scales on marimba

HS Wind Ensemble – Grades 9-12

The Wind Ensemble will consist of students in 9 th through 12 th grades. Once students are accepted to the festival, they will receive an email with a link to password protected copies of the first parts of the ensemble’s repertoire that will serve as the audition materials. Students should start by preparing the entirety of their default ensemble’s repertoire (9-10 Concert Band; 11-12 Symphonic Band). Students who intend to audition for Wind Ensemble should prepare that repertoire in addition to their default ensemble’s repertoire. Again, the number of pieces included in each ensemble’s audition material has been lowered, making this relatively low impact. The number of pieces will be limited for each ensemble. Students who audition for the Wind Ensemble and are not accepted will be placed in a seat appropriate to their ability in their default ensemble. If there are not enough students who audition for the Wind Ensemble, students will be pulled from the top of the Symphonic Band’s roster.

• • Flute

  • Oboe

  • Bassoon

  • Clarinet

  • Bass Clarinet

  • Alto Saxophone

  • Tenor Saxophone

  • Baritone Saxophone

  • Trumpet

  • French Horn

  • Trombone

  • Euphonium/Baritone

  • Tuba

  • Percussion 11-12 (These start with tambourine.  Typographical error omitted this annotation.)

  • Percussion 9-10

HS Symphonic Band – Grades 11-12

The Symphonic Band will consist of high school students in 11th and 12th grade only. Once students are accepted to the festival, they will receive an email with a link to password protected copies of the first parts of the ensemble’s repertoire that will serve as the audition materials. Important: 11th and 12th grade students may choose to audition for the Wind Ensemble by preparing its repertoire for their placement audition.

• • Flute

  • Oboe

  • Bassoon

  • Clarinet

  • Bass Clarinet

  • Alto Saxophone

  • Tenor Saxophone

  • Baritone Saxophone

  • Trumpet

  • French Horn

  • Trombone

  • Euphonium/Baritone

  • Tuba

  • Percussion (These start with tambourine.  Typographical error omitted this annotation.)

HS Concert Band – Grades 9-10

The Concert Band will consist of high school students in 9th and 10th grade only. Once students are accepted to the festival, they will receive an email with a link to password protected copies of the first parts of the ensemble’s repertoire that will serve as the audition materials. Important: 9th and 10th grade students may choose to audition for the Wind Ensemble by preparing its repertoire for their placement audition.

• • Flute

  • Oboe

  • Bassoon

  • Clarinet

  • Bass Clarinet

  • Alto Saxophone

  • Tenor Saxophone

  • Baritone Saxophone

  • Trumpet

  • French Horn

  • Trombone

  • Euphonium/Baritone

  • Tuba

  • Percussion

Middle School Band – Grades 7-8

The Middle School Honor Band will consist of students in 7th and 8th grade only. There will be no 9th graders in the Middle School Honor Band. Once students are accepted to the festival, they will receive an email with a link to password protected copies of the ensemble’s repertoire that will serve as the audition materials.

• • Flute

  • Oboe

  • Bassoon

  • Clarinet

  • Bass Clarinet

  • Alto Saxophone

  • Tenor Saxophone

  • Tenor Saxophone 2

  • Baritone Saxophone

  • Trumpet

  • French Horn

  • Trombone

  • Euphonium/Baritone

  • Tuba

  • Percussion

• Days Inn - Martin (731) 587-9577

• Econo Lodge - Martin (731) 587-4241

• Hampton Inn - Union City (731) 885-8850

• Hospitality House - Union City (731) 885-6610

• Country Hearth - Union City (731) 885-7774

• Super 8 - Union City (731) 885-4444

• Sleep Inn Mainstay & Suites - Union City (731) 599-7272

• Holiday Inn Express - Union City (731) 599-7990

Sessions will be announced in January 2026.

Download Final Information

Parking

Visitors passes are available in the Music Office, FA 108. We have been assured by campus police that no tickets will be issued to vehicles without University Parking Permits during the Festival. Try to park close to the Fine Arts or the University Center, if possible. If you do receive a ticket, please bring it to headquarters in FA 132, and we will take care of it.

Buses and Parking

If you will be arriving with a bus, please drop your students off by the entrance of the parking lot or, preferably, by the sidewalk across from the Elam Center (right next to the blocked parking lot entrance) on the northwest side of the FA parking lot. It would be best to approach the building from the south, facilitating drop-off without having to cross the street. See the campus map included.

Registration

Will be in the Main Lobby of Fine Arts. Please check in your students, get your packet, pick up the bell covers you need for your students, and proceed to the warmup room.

Warm Up Rooms

The Warm-up Room for High School students will be the Band Room – FA133. Middle School students will warm up in Blankenship Recital Hall – FA 122. Your school's packet will contain name badges for yourself and all participating students, maps, festival schedules, a list of area restaurants. Student name badges are to be worn at all times during Festival events. This is a lot of people in one space and it is important to audition as soon as possible after arriving.

Auditions

NEW: Auditions will begin at 12:00 pm to allow for instruments with large numbers of musicians to finish by 5:00 pm.

Auditions for both High School and Middle School students will take place in the Fine Arts Building. After arriving, it is very important that as soon as they are here and warmed up that they go to your audition. Waiting and practicing once they get here creates a bottleneck at the end of the audition window and that is not fair for students who must arrive late nor for our judges. Some students don’t get dinner because of this. We appreciate your help with this. A detailed list of room assignments will be in your packet. Results will be emailed to directors and be posted in several places throughout the building.

Additionally, be sure that high school students auditioning for the Wind Ensemble prepare the material for both the Wind Ensemble AND their default ensemble (Concert Band for grades 9-10, Symphonic Band for grades 11-12).

Wi-Fi

Free guest Wi-Fi service will be available. Choose the “UTM Guest” network. You will be asked to enter your email address for registration, accept the terms and you will be connected.  This network will not be able to stream content.

Fees – Receipts

Receipts for fees mailed in will be in your school’s packet. See Tammy Owensby in FA 108 for other receipt needs.

Director’s Session and Rehearsal Observations

We strongly encourage all directors to participate in the Director’s Session. Additionally, all rehearsals for all of the festival bands are open. We encourage any directors, parents, etc. to spend some time observing the students and guest conductors.

Director’s Breakfast – Friday

Dr. Jeffrey Bibbee, the Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, is sponsoring a hot breakfast for all directors and music faculty at the UTM Alumni Center, 589 University Street, Martin, TN. There is ample parking there and it is a short walk from Fine Arts.

Hospitality Room

The Director's Hospitality Room will be in FA 170 (Green Room). Water and coffee will be available all day and light breakfast will be served in the morning until 10:00 am on Friday and Saturday. Thank you to Amro Music for sponsoring the Hospitality Room again this year.

Department of Music Auditions

If any of your students wish to schedule a UTM-Department of Music audition during the Festival, please have them sign up for a time during the initial registration on Thursday in FA 132. Sign-up sheets will be available for all instruments, including voice and piano. These auditions may serve as entrance auditions for music majors/minors and scholarship auditions for majors, minors and non-major participants only. These will take place Friday at 1:30, location arranged with applied faculty.

Instrument Storage & Considerations

Percussion - We have assembled enough percussion instruments to outfit each ensemble. Please bring sticks and mallets only.

Large Instruments – Tuba, Euphonium, Baritone & Tenor Saxophones may be left in the rehearsal spaces where they will be secured.

Flute/Piccolo – If you have a student who is interested in being considered for piccolo, please have them bring them along. The only audition requirement will be a scale of the adjudicator’s choice.

Concert Dress

Concert Dress for each ensemble will be nice dress. Please keep the choices modest and refrain from jeans and printed apparel. Look classy and professional.

Please let me know if you have any questions and we look forward to having you on campus!

Dr. John Oelrich
Director of Bands
731.881.7403 | joelrich@utm.edu

George Pokorski – Middle School Band

George Pokorski held the position of band director at Marion Middle School from 1995-2010.

George retired from his teaching position in June of 2014. His previous teaching positions have been at Marion Jr. and Sr. High, East Jr. High in West Memphis, Sherwood Jr. High in Memphis, Indianola Academy in MS, and Central High School in Savannah, TN. George spent 37 years as a band director, 27 of which were in the Marion School System. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Memphis.

George has served as a clinician or adjudicator in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, Idaho, New Jersey, Alabama, Ohio, and Louisiana. He is a member of ASBOA, ABA, Phi Beta Mu, and is a past secretary/treasurer for Arkansas ASBOA Region Nine. George has presented professional development workshops for the Memphis City Schools, Amro Music Company, ABA, Arkansas Tech University, Henderson State University, the Shelby County Schools, The University of Arkansas at Monticello, and WTSBOA. George is a horn player and held the position of Assistant Principal Horn with the Memphis Symphony for 30 years before resigning his position in 2005. 

George has played recording sessions with the late Isaac Hayes, and he has had the opportunity to perform with several major artists, including Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Rod Stewart, Isaac Stern, and many others. George was the first recipient of the “Memphis Youth Symphony Distinguished Alumni Award”. In Dec. of 2003, George was inducted into the Memphis Amateur Sports Hall of Fame in the field of “Sports Officiating”. He received the Memphis Christian Brothers High School 2010 “Man of Music Award”. In 2004, George was selected as the “Arkansas Bandmaster of the Year” at the ABA Convention in Fort Smith, AR. 

In 2017 George was inducted into the “Amro Music Educator Walk of Fame”.

In 2015, George relocated to Olive Branch, MS along with his wife, Kenleta, a retired elementary music specialist in the Shelby County Schools (TN). Keyta Bassham, their oldest child, is an Intervention specialist in the Murfreesboro Public school system.   Another daughter, Marie Millikin, is an elementary music teacher in the Collierville (TN) Municipal School District.  Daughter Laura Pollard is an elementary music teacher in the Central Arkansas Christian school system in North Little Rock. George and Kenleta enjoy spending time with their six grandchildren.

Benjamin Easley, High School Concert Band

Benjamin Easley is a freelance music educator, instrumentalist, conductor, designer, composer, & arranger based in Nashville, TN. He most recently served as the founding Director of Bands at Nolensville HS (Nolensville, TN). Prior to starting the Nolensville Band, Easley served as Associate Band Director at Berkner HS (Richardson, TX), where his concert ensembles achieved the UIL Sweepstakes Award & the Mighty Ram Band performed his original compositions & arrangements as finalists at the 2012 TX UIL 5A State Marching Contest & multiple Bands of America Regional Championships.

Under his leadership, live ensemble performances have included appearances at the 49th Annual Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade, multiple Nissan Stadium halftimes for the Tennessee Titans, the Lincoln Memorial, the American Museum of Natural History, & the Tennessee Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame Concert at the 64th Annual TMEA Professional Development Conference.

Honored as a four-time CMA Music Teacher of Excellence, Manilow Music Teacher Award winner, School Band & Orchestra Magazine’s “50 Directors Who Make a Difference,” 2018- 2019 Nolensville HS Teacher of the Year, & member of Phi Beta Mu, Easley graduated summa cum laude with a BM in Trombone Performance, MM in Instrumental Conducting, MM in Music Education, & MM in Music Theory Pedagogy from Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX). His primary professional mentors include Dr. Jack Delaney, John Kitzman, Ray Conklin, Lynne Jackson, Brian Merrill, & Frank Troyka.

Active as a national adjudicator, consultant, & composer & arranger, Easley designs for high school & college marching band programs through his innovative business concept, Stadium Sounds. He currently serves on the board of TMEA as State Band Chair. Easley resides in Nolensville, TN with his wife, Sarah, & their daughters, Ella (11) & Harper (9).

Darla McBryde, High School Symphonic Band

Darla McBryde is the Assistant Director of Bands at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. She directs the Concert Band, teaches music education courses, and assists with the Symphonic Band and the Wind Ensemble. Ms. McBryde oversees all operations for the Bearkat Marching Band (BMB) and the Angry Orange Basketball Band (AOBB). In addition, she holds the position of Assistant Director for SHSU's Center for Music Education. 

Ms. McBryde is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education from Boston University. She holds a masters degree in instrumental conducting from Stephen F. Austin State University and a bachelors degree in music education from Baylor University, where she studied bassoon. Her performance experience includes playing bassoon and contrabassoon in the Baylor University Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, Chamber ensembles, and Waco Symphony. Ms. McBryde was also a member of the color guard in the 1999 Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps.

Before joining the SHSU faculty, Ms. McBryde was the Director of Bands and Fine Arts Department Chair at Timber Creek High School in the Keller Independent School District. She previously held roles as Assistant Band Director at Keller High School and as both Assistant Band Director and Colorguard Director at Flower Mound High School. Throughout her seventeen-year career as a high school band director, her ensembles consistently earned high ratings, earning 22 consecutive UIL Concert and Sight-Reading First Division awards. Among her career highlights are the Timber Creek High School Wind Symphony's invitation to perform at the 2016 Western International Band Clinic in Seattle, the Timber Creek High School Saxophone Ensemble's showcase performance at the 2019 Texas Music Educators Association Conference, and the Keller Chamber Winds concert at the 2012 Midwest Clinic.

Ms. McBryde shares her passion for the marching arts with her students, leading the Timber Creek High School Marching Band to secure superior ratings at all UIL Marching Contests and to achieve consistent finalist placements at Bands of America Texas Regionals and UIL Area Marching Contests. During her tenure at Flower Mound High School, her JV and Varsity color guards were perennial medalists at the North Texas Colorguard Association Championships from 2002 to 2008, with frequent appearances as Scholastic A finalists and medalists at Winter Guard International Texas regionals. In 2008, the Flower Mound High School Varsity Winter guard earned a fifth-place finish in Scholastic A at the Winter Guard International World Championships.

Ms. McBryde serves as an adjudicator and clinician for marching, concert, and chamber ensembles and has guest-conducted honor ensembles throughout the country and beyond. Recently, she completed residencies with both Symphony North of Houston and the Conroe Symphony Orchestra. She has presented clinics at conferences, including the Texas Bandmasters Association convention, the Midwest Clinic, the Texas Music Educators Association convention, the College Band Directors National Association Athletic Bands conference, and the Women Band Directors International convention. Her research interests include exploring the role of

ensemble participation in career preparation for undergraduate music educators and the impact of embodied music cognition on students' music learning processes.

Ms. McBryde’s awards and honors include, winning the 2025 Sammy Award for outstanding involvement and contributions to Sam Houston State University, a Citation of Merit from

Women Band Directors International, membership in the Phi Beta Mu Bandmasters Fraternity, Timber Creek's Creative Impact Award, Fine Arts Teacher of the Year, Flower Mound High School's Teacher of the Month and Principal's Shining Star, and the Lewisville ISD Golden Apple Award.

Ms. McBryde’s professional affiliations reflect her commitment to music education and include memberships with Women Band Directors International, Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, and the Texas Association of College Teachers.

Dr. John Oelrich, High School Wind Ensemble

John Oelrich joined the faculty of The University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM) Department of Music in 2012 as Director of Bands. His primary responsibilities include conducting the Wind Ensemble, teaching instrumental conducting, instrumental methods, supervising student teachers, and the oversight and continued development of the university bands. In addition to his teaching duties, John is highly active in the area of recruiting and outreach, visiting and working with approximately twenty schools each year.

Under John’s direction, the UT Martin Wind Ensemble was invited to perform a feature concert for the Tennessee Music Education Association’s 2015 State Conference. The Wind Ensemble has been active in commissioning and premiering new works for wind band, including pieces by composers Brian Balmages, Gary Nash, Michael Gilbertson, Viet Cuong, Steven Danyew, Adam Gorb, Derek Jenkins, Kenyon Wilson, Roger Zare, Connie Elison, and Stephen Barr.

John’s recent engagements as a guest conductor and clinician include the UT Martin Honor Band Festival, Robertson County Honor Band, Gateway Music Association Honor Band, Kentucky All-District #1 Middle School and High School Honor Bands, Kentucky All-District #3 High School Symphonic Band, All-East 11-12 Red Band, Tennessee Mid-State 9-10 Gold Band, Tennessee All-West Middle School Blue Band, the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association All-State Concert Band, and the Wisconsin School Music Association State Honors Band. Active as a trumpeter, John regularly performs with local churches, substitutes with the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and teaches a small studio of public school students.

In the spring of 2018, John led a travel study to Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic to research and perform Classical period chamber wind works, including performances at Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria and Emauzy Monastery, in Prague, Czech Republic. In the spring of 2025, John co-led a travel study to Italy including performances in Siena, Monterosso, and Venice.

In addition to his work on campus, John is also highly engaged in community service. In the summer of 2013, he founded the Martin Community Band, the first standing community band in the city since 1915. The ensemble performs 4-5 concerts each summer season and regularly involves more than 140 musicians. 

Prior to his appointment at UT-Martin, John was the Doctoral Conducting Associate at The Ohio State University. He taught at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa for several years, including seven years as an adjunct and one year full-time as Interim Director of Instrumental Music. Prior to his time at Loras, Oelrich spent ten years teaching middle school and high school band in Iowa and Wisconsin.

After growing up on a dairy farm near Spencer, Wisconsin, John earned his Bachelor of Science in Instrumental and Vocal Music Education from the University of Wisconsin - Platteville, a Master of Music degree from the University of Northern Iowa and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from The Ohio State University. When not involved in music or teaching related activities, John enjoys spending time with his children, reading, hiking, motorcycling, cooking, and amateur astronomy. He and his family reside in Martin, TN.