Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

For the last nine years, Morgann Davis has put tons of hours in practicing her flute. Sometime she played for just an hour a night, but most of the time, it was more.
All that practice has finally paid off.
For the first time in six years, the Tyrone Area High School has a student representing it in All-State Band.
“It’s a real exciting honor for me,” said Davis. “I’ve been wanting this for a long time now and it’s good to set a goal and reach it. I almost went to states as a sophomore, but came up just a little short. After that, I knew I’d get there again.
“I made it this year and played well,” she said. “I’m glad the judges recognized that I deserved a chair.”
Davis qualified for the designation last weekend while participating in the Region III State Band Festival held on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown. She received this elite honor for high school musicians by placing First Chair in the Flute I section of the Region III Band.
She will perform with the All-State Band at the 2003 PMEA In-Service Conference, scheduled for April 9-12 at the Hershey Conference Center in Hershey. This year’s All-State Band will be conducted by Dr. O. Richard Bundy, director of athletic and concert bands and assistant director of the School of Music at The Pennsylvania State University.
“It is an outstanding honor and unparalleled educational experience for Morgann to attend this festival and represent the Tyrone School District and Tyrone community,” said Kris E. Laird, band director at TAHS. “She is an extremely talented, hard-working and dedicated student.
“She is, by far, the most talented and successful musician that I have taught in my five years at Tyrone and one of the top musicians to graduate from this school,” continued Laird. “I congratulate her, her family and I am honored to represent her and Tyrone schools as her director at the 2003 State Band Festival.”
Morgann began her road to states in November with her pre-audition for the District 6 Band Festival. At this audition, she placed fifth chair out of 90 flute players in Blair, Bedford, Cambria and Somerset counties.
Her next advancement came when she auditioned at the District Band Festival in January, where she placed second chair of 12 flutes in her section.
Finally, at the Region III Band Festival, her audition for the State Band earned her first chair.
Morgann is the only Flute I to represent all of Region III, which includes 60 schools in Blair, Bedford, Cambria, Somerset, Centre, Clinton, Clearfield, Mifflin, Huntingdon, Fulton and Juniata counties. She will be one of only 12 flutes from Pennsylvania in the All-State Band.
Her career began when she first started playing the flute in third grade.
“I really don’t even know why I began playing it,” said Davis. “It just looked interesting.”
Through sixth grade, she continued to play, but going into junior high, she began losing interest.
“I’m not sure why, but I did,” said Davis. “I then started taking private lessons and with the encouragement from Gerry Roberts (former TAHS band director), I decided to stick with it. I’m glad I did.
“Music class was a lot different in junior high than it was in elementary school,” she said. “I started enjoying it even more.”
Now her music career is flourishing. She also plays the piccolo, piano and sings vocals.
“I do a lot with music just because I love it,” she said.
Although she said she doesn’t have any musical influences, she enjoys listening to all types of music, including instrumentals, classical and jazz. She said her favorite group is The Dave Matthews Band.
Recently, Davis made a commitment to continue her education at Ohio State University, where she’ll study music education and flute performance. For the last few weeks, she has been weighing her choices for higher education as she had offers from Penn State University, Duquesne, Susquehanna University, Michigan and Ithaca.
“I guess the biggest reason I chose Ohio State is because of their music professor (Katherine Borst-Jones),” said Davis. “She’s a great person that I think will be able to help me continue on through my music career.”
Davis said that although she loves music, she doesn’t believe she would be where she is today if she went to any other high school.
“Here at Tyrone, I learned so much with all my friends around,” said Davis. “All my teachers care about what the students are doing in the school, both academically and outside the classroom. I couldn’t have chosen a better place to get my initial educational experiences.”

By Rick