PARIS — The Oxford Hills Middle School band was invited to play some selections at the State House in Augusta next month.
“I am extremely proud of these young ladies and gentlemen and am sure they will be wonderful representatives of the Oxford Hills community,” band director Blaise Spath said.
The 70 seventh- and eighth-grade band members will perform for about 20 to 30 minutes in the rotunda at 9 a.m. on Feb. 4, and then play the National Anthem in the gallery of the House Chamber to open its session at 9:45 a.m.
The invitation was extended by Speaker of the House Mark W. Eves, D-North Berwick, at the suggestion of State Representatives Theresa M. Hayes, D-Buckfield, Roger A. Jackson, R-Oxford, Jeffrey L. Timberlake, R-Turner, and Tom J. Winsor, R-Norway.
“We are honored and excited about it,” said Spath, who has directed the band for the past 31 years.
Spath said the band has always been large, ranging from 55 students to more than 90 at one point.
With an additional 35 students in the middle school orchestra, the school boasts some 100 instrumentalists in the school, he said.
After the band plays the National Anthem, Spath said the group will stay in the House Chamber for a while to watch the House of Representatives in action and then take a tour of the State House and possibly the Maine State Museum.
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