Monty Hang, a senior at Cassville High School who plays clarinet and saxophone, has been named Honorable Mention All-State Band.

He is believed to be the first recipient of the recognition from Cassville in about 15 years. In order for students to audition for All-State Band, they must first be chosen through an audition process for their district’s band.

The district band is formed when students audition with music material that shows the skills for each individual instrument, and are then chosen for a chair placement. If a student makes it into the district band, they are invited to play with all of the chosen musicians in that district, and are invited to audition for All-State in Columbia.

“Being a part of the All-District band for all my years in high school while continuing to progress from second to last out of 24 chairs freshman and sophomore year to 5th and 6th chair junior and senior year has been a wonderful journey,” Hang said. “Adding to this wonderful journey by being a part of the Honorable Mention All-State Band has been more than I could have imagined. Knowing that I have grown as a musician, and finally seeing the achievements of my musical preparations throughout high school, has been very much worth my time and effort. Thinking back on what I have gone through, I am thankful that I had the music teachers and fellow bandmates I did throughout the years.

“I am also very thankful to God for the fortunate and unfortunate events that have happened during this journey. The fortunate and unfortunate events are what made me continue to strive to become a greater musician and helped me become stronger when faced with difficult challenges.”