by Brent Hopper
Middle School Band Director
Lakeland Preparatory School
Lakeland Preparatory School Bands were represented well at the 2025 WTSBOA All West Honor Band auditions on Saturday, January 18th in Medina, TN. All West Honor Band is the highest individual honor a band student can achieve in the West Tennessee region, with thousands of students auditioning each year. Students auditioning for All West have to prepare a challenging piece of music, perform scales by memory, and sight read – performing piece of music they have never seen with only thirty seconds of silent practice.
Lakeland Prep once again grew to new heights at All West Honor Band Auditions, with 25 students earning their place in the middle school honor bands and 30 students making the high school honor bands. Combined, Lakeland Preparatory School had 55 students make the All West Honor Band. This is one of the highest percentages for our region and the state of Tennessee!
Mr. Radcliffe and Mr. Hopper noted that they are proud of all of the auditioning students, regardless of whether or not they made All West. All of the students that worked on the audition music got significantly better at their instrument.The process to audition and play challenging music for a judge that you do not know takes a lot of courage and dedication. With growth like this, the future is bright for the LPS Band!
