For immediate release

By Madison Cresswell

January 7, 2020

For more information, contact OBU’s news bureau at [email protected] or (870) 245-5208

ARKADELPHIA, Ark.—Eight Ouachita Baptist University music students have been selected for the 2020 Arkansas Intercollegiate Band (AIB) and will attend the Arkansas Music Educators Convention Feb. 20-21, 2020, at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Following auditions and rehearsals beginning on Thursday, Feb. 20, the band then will perform a free concert for the public on Friday, Feb. 21, at 3 p.m.

Student musicians from universities around the state were selected for the ensemble by recommendation of their band directors.

“It is an honor for the students to be selected to perform with the AIB,” said Dr. Craig Hamilton, Ouachita’s Lena Goodwin Trimble Professor of Music and director of bands. “Students learn from an outstanding guest conductor and enjoy the experience of performing with their colleagues from around the state.”

Ouachita students selected include: Holli Barger, a junior instrumental music education major from Carrollton, Texas, on horn; Richard Blosch, a senior music major from Fort Worth, Texas, on percussion; Cross Brandon, a sophomore instrumental music education major from Little Rock, Ark., on tenor saxophone; Andrew Coop, a senior worship arts major from Gladewater, Texas, on trombone; Craig Crawford, a sophomore instrumental performance and communications & media/multimedia journalism double major from Texarkana, Texas, on alto saxophone; Bethany Crawley, a junior instrumental music education major from Jonesboro, Ark., on flute; Taryn Toles, a sophomore instrumental music education major from Cabot, Ark., on clarinet; and Sam Youmans, a sophomore music industry major from Siloam Springs, Ark., on bass clarinet.

“I am stoked for the opportunity to play with the Arkansas Intercollegiate Band; it's been a dream of mine since seeing the 2017 Intercollegiate Band perform at All-State Clinic my senior year of high school,” Crawley said.

Joe Missal, director of bands at Oklahoma State University, will be the 2020 Arkansas Intercollegiate Band guest conductor. The performance repertoire will include “Variations on ‘America’” by Charles Ives, “Southern Harmony”by Donald Grantham, “Of Our New Day Begun” by Omar Thomas and “The Stars and Stripes Forever”by John Philip Sousa.

For more information, contact Craig Hamilton at [email protected] or (870) 245-5137.