Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005 | 8:10 a.m.
When the Green Valley High School Symphonic Band students lowered their instruments in the Hilton Chicago International Ballroom last month, they knew all the hard work was worthwhile.
"They received a standing ovation at the end of their performance," said band conductor Diane Koutsulis. "It was a great audience."
The band had just finished performing Paul Hindemith's "Symphonic Metamorphosis," capping months of preparation and weeks of nightly practice.
All that work took them to the stage at the Midwest Clinic earlier this month. They are the first band from the state and this year one of 16 from around the world invited to the exclusive conference.
"I think the kids are really, really proud. And we're proud of them," Koutsulis said. "It's a huge honor."
The Midwest Clinic, An International Band and Orchestra Conference, started in Chicago 58 years ago. It conducts seminars and clinics for band directors and showcases bands and orchestras that apply via videotape.
Chelsea Osborn is a junior at Green Valley High School and plays trumpet in the band. She loved Chicago, though, "It's freezing. Don't go in December."
To qualify to go to Chicago, the 63-member band practiced every morning and night, averaging 19 hours a week leading into the conference, Osborn said. She said the band conductor can be tough and works the band hard, but that it pays off.
"That feeling of accomplishment was probably the best thing in the trip because we worked so hard since summertime and we finally got there and performed what we'd been practicing so long," Osborn said.
"We played really great music."
Koutsulis said great music isn't the only benefit of a music program. Students learn to see projects through to the end -- they did their own fundraising for the trip -- and do better in school, she said.
"These students are the best on campus," she said. "That's not to say they're the most brilliant students in the world, that's just to say they're the hardest working."
Koutsulis was the 1999 Nevada Teacher of the Year and received the 1999 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award. She has taught in the Clark Coutny School District for 23 years and is assisted at Green Valley High School by Cecil Myers.
The band has also has past honors, having won the school national recognition as a Grammy Signature School.
Following the winter break, the band is geting back to work in preparation for spring concerts. It has been invited to play at Carnegie Hall in 2006.
Koutsulis is quick with an answer when asked how they're getting to Carnegie Hall.
"Practice."
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