Auburn Junior High School Bands
Auburn Junior High School is in its fifth year as an eighth and ninth grade school and contains a total enrollment of over 800 students. Auburn band students begin instrumental instruction in the seventh grade in the Drake Middle School Band under the direction of Mr. Parker Denson. Upon arrival at Auburn Junior High School, band students are placed by audition into one of the performing band classes. The Auburn Junior High School band program has a current membership of approximately 200 students enrolled in the Symphonic and Honors Bands. There program also includes a Jazz Ensemble for which students may audition. Most of the students in the ninth grade also may choose the option of participating in the Auburn High School Marching Band, directed by Dr. Russell Logan.
The bands consistently receive superior ratings at concert band contests. The bands also perform for the annual Fall and Spring Supper Concerts, Solo & Ensemble Competition, and have students who are selected for all-state band, all-district band, and various other university honor bands. The bands travel each spring to Orlando or Williamsburg where they consistently win concert festival awards.
In 2005, the Honors Band was selected to perform for the Alabama Music Educators Association In-Service Conference. The bands have won first place at either the Music In the Parks Festival in Williamsburg, Virginia or at the All-Star Music Festival in Orlando for the past three years. Students from AJHS typically win over 200 medals each year at Solo and Ensemble Competition.