Three Edgecombe County Public Schools were chosen to play in the All-District Band.

Lillian House, an alto saxophone player and Kaitlin Driver, a French horn player both eighth graders from South Edgecombe Middle School and West Edgecombe Middle School eighth grade flute player Taylor Joyner earned the honor this year and played Feb. 3 at East Carolina University’s Wright Auditorium Saturday.

The students auditioned for the Eastern All-District Band on Jan. 7, with around 600 other middle school students from the Eastern District. The students traveled to E.B. Aycock Middle School in Greenville where judges formed two honors bands with a full instrumentation and a level of musicianship that exceeds what individual schools can have on their own.

At the audition, students played memorized scales, a required solo a sight-read piece. The auditioning students were judged based on their knowledge of the scales, tone quality, tempo, articulation and rhythm pattern, as well as their dynamics.

The selected students returned to Greenville for a two-day clinic where they rehearsed for a day and a half with guest clinicians before the concert.

The Eastern District includes counties from Elizabeth City all the way south to Wilmington and as far west as Interstate 95.