Knopp Serves as Guest Conductor

Plains League High School Honor BandHILLSBORO, Kan. – Shawn Knopp, assistant professor of music and director of instrumental music at Tabor College served as a guest band conductor for two honor bands during November.

Knopp visited Heart of the Plains League High School Honor Band at Pretty Prairie High School on Nov. 8. As the guest conductor, Knopp spent the day rehearsing with students. At the end of the workshop the group performed a concert for the public.

“The honor band format allows students from various schools to come together on a single day to form a band,” Knopp said. “In only a few short hours, we must learn to work together, rehearse the music and then perform for an audience.”

The schools participating in the high school event included Attica High School, Burrton High School, Cunningham High School, Hutchinson-Central Christian High School, Kiowa-South Barber High School, Langdon-Fairfield High School, Norwich High School, Pratt-Skyline High School, Pretty Prairie High School and Stafford High School.

On Nov. 12 Knopp traveled to Hutchinson to work with members of the Pioneer League Middle School Honor Band. Schools participating in the event included Prairie Hills Middle School in Buhler, Hutchinson Middle School, Salina Lakewood Middle School, Salina South Middle School, Chisholm Middle School in Newton and McPherson Middle School.

“Providing a valuable musical experience for Kansas students through these honor bands has been a tremendous joy and I am thankful for the opportunity,” Knopp said.

Knopp is in his first year at Tabor College where he oversees all aspects of instrumental music and directs the Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, Faculty Jazz Combo, Pep Band, Brass Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra. He came to Tabor from Smoky Valley Public Schools in Lindsborg, Kan., where he spent eleven years as the director of bands for both the middle school and high school. Under Knopp’s direction the Smoky Valley High School Concert Band earned First Division-Superior ratings at the State Large Group Music Festival from 2007 through 2016. The group was selected to perform at the Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Convention multiple years.

Knopp serves as the vice president of the South Central District of KMEA and is a member of the National Association for Music Education, College Band Directors National Association, Kansas Bandmasters Association and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.