A National Success:Senior Eli Moon is accepted to the Honor Band of America, a lifelong dream of his

Walking into room 214, senior Eli Moon was ready to ask his band director Alex Toepfer a question when he noticed an email on his phone.

He read the subject line and was immediately shocked.

With shaky hands he opened the email and without hesitation started texting all his friends and family.

The email he had received was an acceptance email to the Honor Band of America.

The Honor Band of America is a nationwide ensemble band for students based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The program gives students the opportunity to work with distinguished conductors and world-renowned guest artists.

“One of the nation’s finest student concert honor bands,” According to the Honor Band of America website.

Moon now not only holds the honor of accomplishing his dream, but also the feeling to uplift SM East’s reputation at the Honor Band of America. For the first time in 10 years, a student from SM East had the chance to play in the Honor Band of America.

"We had a student that made the national band about 10 years ago, and you know I've had a lot of really good students but I felt like Moon had the best chance to make it," Toepfer says.

To audition for the band, Moon had to learn two pieces of music: one fast and technical and one slow and expressive. Toepfer gave Moon some of the music he had used while studying at the University of Missouri–Kansas City for Moon to use in the audition.

Moon used the pieces Muczynski Sonata by Robert Muczynski for the slow, methodical music, and Brionce by Ida Gotkovsky for his faster piece.

Moon submitted the tape of him playing in late October and waited. After two long months of anxiously checking his email for an acceptance, in late December he received an email saying he had been waitlisted.

Moon had been let down by himself and he was disappointed, Moon’s first thoughts were to share with his friends and family that he has been waitlisted. He felt like the opportunity to play wouldn't be fulfilled and that his work had been for nothing.

But he had already felt this before.

Moon isn’t new to band auditions at all, as he has been on All-State — an ensemble band students across the state — for the past three years. Moon's first time auditioning to a competitive band was in his freshman year when he auditioned for District Band.

After Moon auditioned his freshman year, he was rejected from the District Band. He auditioned for All-State the next year as a sophomore, and to his surprise, he was accepted.

Now, Moon doesn't shy away from band opportunities and is always open to trying new band-related things. Moon is very interested in all things music, such as learning a new instrument and teaching himself new skills and every one in a while, a new instrument.

"He picks up any instrument he can get his hands on to play," his mom, Shanda Moon, says.

Moon has since continued to partake in the all-state band as an upperclassman. Both his junior and senior year Moon has been first chair in the saxophone section. This led Toepfer to encourage him to audition for the Honor Band of America.

“Since he was coming up on his third year, making it to All-State potentially, and had made first chair the previous year, I thought he had a good chance to make it to the Honor band of America,” Toepfer said.

Moon has support coming in from all around, like his mom, who has always told him to play music, and his brother, who also excels in music and was previously a part of SM East’s band. His instructors have given him praise, such as calling him one of the greatest students they've ever taught.

"By far, he's one of the best students that I have, and he's one of the most malleable students that I have too," Dawson Coleman, his current saxophone instructor, says.

Moon is also self-sufficient and this helps in his success. Working on his own gives him time to take the corrections his teachers give him and apply them to his playing.

Breaking habits is one of the hardest things to do for Moon. When he practices on his own, he starts by taking the piece slowly and focusing on accuracy, then once he feels comfortable, he slowly works up to tempo.

“Definitely most of my improvement comes from practicing on my own, because a lot of that is taking what my teachers have told me and applying it," Moon said.

This achievement is not the end of Moon’s band journey, but just the beginning. This presents the many opportunities for Moon that he can use to get to even higher levels in band and in being a musician. Moon wants to in the future go to Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and these high-level accomplishments, like making a national band, will help him make those dreams come true.