Hartselle High School’s director of bands Randall Key is finishing up his 21^st band season.

The spring concert will feature the symphonic and jazz bands Tues., April 28 at 7 p.m. in the HHS auditorium. Key also hopes to feature senior soloist Sarah Butler who received all superior ratings at a solo festival on clarinet.

Key said he was pleased with the band’s overall performance this year.

“They have really learned a lot in this rebuilding year,” Key said. “I lost a very talented class of about 30 seniors last year, but those transition years are always where I’m pleasantly surprised. They have worked intelligently on building a product that the entire community can enjoy. This is really an outstanding group of great performers.”

The band recently received all superiors with distinction in a music performance assessment during the first week of March. A rating of all superiors with distinction means the band received A’s in each category during their prepared performance and their sight-reading. This was HHS’s fourth year in a row to receive the highest rating.

“I’m especially proud of their rating this year because it will be the last year they will announce superiors with distinction,” Key said. “The scoring will be changed next year, and the ratings will not list distinctions anymore. I think it was extra special to be able to get that rating one more time. They have all worked very hard to receive those honors.”

Key said the band stresses music education in order to prepare members for college.

“This semester alone we will have read over 70 new pieces,” Key said. “Each time a new piece is introduced, we sight-read through it like we would if we were at competition. We also incorporate more scales into our warm-ups, so they really get used to them. Music education like that will really help them if they continue playing through the end of high school.”

HHS also had two members make it to the All-State band. Freshman Dalton Kulick and Butler had the honor of being chosen for the red band last weekend in Mobile. Butler is a four-year All-State member.

Key said he is looking forward to the promise next season holds.

“I will have quite a bit of incoming freshmen next year, and only 11 seniors will be moving on this year,” Key said. “I expect our numbers to be right around 100, which is a little bigger than this year. It’s been a trying year for me personally losing the band truck and several instruments in the accident, and then I had a sudden death in the family while on our New York trip. It’s been a little hectic, but we have about $18,000 to put towards a new truck, so we are about halfway there. We want to make sure that we can focus more on our number one goal next season, which is taking care of our community and school and making them proud.”