LHS junior saxophone player is a member of All-State Band

A student at Libby High School has expressed a love and talent for music through hard work that’s paid off.

Sabra Hancock, a high school junior tenor saxophone player, was the only Libby High School musician, and the first after four years, from Libby who auditioned for All-State Band.

She was accepted through an intense screening process and was selected among a group of her peers to attend in Great Falls from Oct. 19-21.

“It was an amazing experience,” Hancock said, “getting to go there and getting to play that level of music with such talented musicians.”

Her high school band instructor, Brenda Nagode, has worked with her since Hancock was in sixth grade. According to Nagode, Hancock works hard on her music, independently practicing for auditions with little assistance from Nagode.

“She’s a really accomplished musician,” Nagode said. “She has a great work ethic and likes becoming better.”

Nagode’s main instrument is the tenor saxophone, but she also plays a variety of instruments, including the flute, piano, guitar and she’s also dabbled with the trumpet and clarinet.

The whole process at All-State is challenging for high school musicians.

All-State gave the students exercises to work from in February that they practice and use to audition in June. They’re told in September whether or not they’ve been accepted.

Also in September, the choir, orchestra and band students are given sheet music to prepare for All-State.

From there, the band section of All-State becomes a collaboration of the best high school flutists, saxophonists and percussionists — each a member of a full-fledged band that performs in concert led by a world-class conductor.

This year that conductor was U.S. Col. Timothy J. Holton, the commander of the U.S. Army Field Band.

“He was a really great conductor. It was really nice to work with him,” Hancock said.

Hancock, along with the other students, had a long and difficult schedule when they attended. On Wednesday, the group of students arrived and were able to get prepared. On Thursday, the group woke up at 8:15 a.m. and had two, four-hour blocks of rehearsals, followed by Friday, when they had another four hours to rehearse.

Despite all of the work, Hancock said she loved every minute of it.

This year, the band kicked-off All-State with “The Star Spangled Banner,” as an opener, followed by “Shortcut Home” by Dana Wilson, “The Force of Destiny” by Giuseppe Verdi, “The Free-Lance” by John Philip Sousa, “Sussex Mummers’ Christmas Carol” by Percy Grainger and “Italian Rhapsody” by Julie Giroux.

Hancock is also auditioning for All-Northwest, a regional all-state band that encompasses Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. She expects to hear back about that one by mid-November.

“It’s a really rewarding feeling, especially when you’re performing pieces,” Hancock said. “You feel like you’re a part of this group and you’re working together, and you feed off energy from the audience also. When you do a good job, you know that you’ve done a good job.”