In the past few months whenever Duane Minnick, director of bands at Briar Woods High School, talks about New York City, he delights in seeing the look in his students' eyes. In less than two months, Minnick's symphonic winds ensemble will take part in the fifth annual New York Wind Band Festival, held at Carnegie Hall in New York.
"It is amazing when they realize they are going to be in the center of the fine arts world," Minnick said. "I told some of the kids it is not really going to hit them until they get off that bus and look around."
The festival, which will take place over five days beginning March 25, is made of six high-school bands selected from around the world and two college ensembles. This year's line up includes bands from London, Japan, California, Florida and Tennessee. Briar Woods will give its individual performance March 28.
"Only one in 73,000 musicians ever gets to perform at Carnegie Hall," Minnick said. "Especially as a second year band, this is really a fantastic opportunity."
THIS IS NOT the first time that Minnick, who has directed high-school bands for 20 years, has been a part of the festival, however. In 2005, when he was director of The Bands of Irmo in Columbia, S.C., Minnick participated in the festival.
"I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," he said.
Last year, Briar Woods' first year in existence, the organizers of the festival contacted Minnick and asked if he would be interested in submitting an audition tape.
"They were interested in having a new school," he said. "They knew I was going to have a quality group here."
At the time, Briar Woods did not even have a senior class, but Minnick submitted a DVD using all 50 students in the school's music program. In April 2006, Minnick got word that the school was being invited to take part in the festival.
Now Briar Woods' band has more than 100 musicians, 60 of whom are in the symphonic winds.
"For Carnegie Hall we are only taking our top ensemble," Minnick said.
Other students, however, will be able to join the symphonic winds in New York, for the school's performance in Central Park before the Carnegie Hall engagement.
"This is an area that has really strong fine arts programs," Minnick said. "We're a very young school and our numbers are lower, but my bands [in the past] have had about 10 percent of the student body. Here it is more than 10 percent. That's the earmark of a healthy program."
FOR A PROGRAM that doubled in size after its first year, the trip to Carnegie Hall is also helping the students to grow as musicians.
"It makes you work harder because you know what you are going to do," freshman Nicole Ivey, a clarinet player, said. "It's hard to wrap my mind around how big it really is."
Minnick said he is impressed with the way his students have reacted to the challenge of performing at Carnegie Hall, including how much personal responsibility each student is taking.
"I set lofty goals for them," he said. "The kids' expectations tend to rise, which really helps the group."
As the dates of the festival grow closer, the amount of work the students have to do is increasing. Although the students have not yet begun holding rehearsals outside of their class time twice a week, each one has been required to record test tapes, versions of them playing certain sections of their performance music, for Minnick to review.
"It has gotten to be very competitive," sophomore trombonist Adam White said. "You want to be able to say that you played first chair at Carnegie Hall."
Minnick said that even without extra practices, he can tell how hard the students are working outside of the classroom.
"I am not having to reteach things," he said. "That shows me that they are being very responsible about the performance. They're all doing their best to be individually prepared."
THE THREE PIECES of music selected for the performance have also forced the ensemble members to step up their playing and increase their practice times.
"It is a big jump from middle-school music for the freshman," junior and first trumpet David Baroody said. "We're still working on mastering them."
Ivey said the three pieces, a classic symphonic march, a classic band piece and newer composition, have more notes and require more articulation, or clarity, from the musicians.
"The rhythms are different," senior flutist Danielle Hunter said. "There's a lot of syncopation."
Minnick said he chose the pieces because of the challenge they would pose to his musicians, as well as the respect for the music in the industry.
"I wanted to challenge them with college-level music," he said. "And I think it is really great music. They are a good combination of challenge and accessibility."
Hunter said the difficulty of the pieces and the ability for the ensemble to master them has given each musician more confidence in his abilities and has brought them closer.
"We all get along really well," Hunter said. "It's a lot of hard work, but it's completely worth it."
Baroody said the amount they have to practice and performing certain sections individually in front of fellow band members has also helped to raise their confidence.
"It has really helped me in other auditions," he said. "I used to get really nervous, but now I just go in and play."
THE FESTIVAL costs approximately $1,000 for each student to attend, so the ensemble has been hard at work fund raising for that past 10 months.
"The students are responsible for paying a good portion of the expenses," Minnick said.
In order to mitigate the cost of the trip to New York and the festival, the students have sold everything from Florida oranges and grapefruits to Yankee candles to chocolate. The ensemble has also played at the openings of supermarkets and banks for a fee that goes to their trip fund. On Sept. 9, the music boosters held the second annual Tag Day, where members of the band canvassed neighborhoods around their school, requesting donations for community members. In that one day the students raised $15,000.
"Except for Tag Day, all the money you raise goes to [your expenses,]" Hunter said. "I was one of the top sellers and I only have to pay a couple of hundred dollars for the trip."
Minnick said that he is amazed by the support he has seen for the band and its trip.
"The administration and community is probably as supportive as any I've had in my career," he said. "They will do anything they can to help."
Baroody said that while not everyone he has spoken to or received donations from has known what Carnegie Hall is or heard of the festival, they are all excited to help.
"They just have a lot of support for the neighborhood school and want to help," he said.
Minnick hopes that the support from the community and the success of Briar Woods' music program is only the beginning of good things for the students involved.
"I would love to be involved in other national events," he said. "Right now, I just hope I am giving the kids an experience they will remember for the rest of their lives."