MIFFLINTOWN — After an award-winning season, the music department in the Juniata County School District is hoping to hit some more high notes this year.

Juniata High School Director of Bands Brad Eargle told the Juniata County School District Board of Directors at an Aug. 13 school board workshop meeting at the administration building in Mifflintown that the high school music program – band and chorus – had received a Support Music Merit Award for its efforts last year.

“This is a good step in the right direction to get that recognition,” Eargle told directors.

The Supper Music Merit Award is a prestigious recognition given by the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation to schools that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to music education.

The award is part of the Best Communities for Music Education program and is awarded to individual schools, public, private, parochial or charter. The award aims to remove systematic barriers that limit access to music-making and career pathways in the music industry.

Eventually, Eargle hopes to win the award again for the entire district.

Juniata also hosted the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 4 Jazz and Contemporary A Cappella Festival concert last year for the first time. It also marked the first time the a cappella festival was held.

Individually, a total of 25 musicians from Juniata – both band and chorus – participated in the district festivals, of which 15 advanced to regionals and one made all-state in chorus. That was Kate Nace, who graduated last spring.

Music was a common sound in the high school, with various ensembles. “We had a rock band for the first time last year,” Eargle said. “It was super cool.”

A $10,000 donation from David M. Maines and Associates Inc., of Lewistown, in memory of Kyler Keller, who was killed in a tragic construction accident on Sept. 6, 2024, was also used to buy new percussion equipment for the marching band. Eargle described the old drums as dating back to “before I was in high school.”

Keller, 27, of Lewistown, was a 2015 graduate of Juniata and played the drums in high school.

On this year’s field show for the 60-member marching group, Eargle said, “We are working toward the same end game as every year: To make music and perform a show that is so different from everyone else.”

Marching band drum major Jacee Price talked about this year’s two-week band camp, which wrapped up on June 7. “It was my fourth and final band camp,” said Price, a senior.

The bands, which is a co-operate between Juniata and East Juniata high schools, marched in several parades this summer and capped off band camp by playing the National Anthem at a Harrisburg Senators baseball game.

“I’m just really happy where we’re at,” Eargle said of the marching band’s “Party Like Your Parents” show which debuted on Friday night’s football home opener. The show’s theme incorporated well-known songs from the 1980s, ’90s, 2000s and 2010s. “They’re all kind of upbeat,” he added.

East Juniata High School music and band director Megan Russell said the school is anxious to host the PMEA District 4 Jazz Festival this year. Recently, the school restarted its jazz band, which she said, “had a rich history and ended during COVID.”

The music program is growing as well as the number of singers in chorus has grown from 23 to 37. Russell also said a music banquet was revived to celebrate “student successes” and was well received.

Ben Wilson, band instructor at Tuscarora Junior High School and Juniata Elementary School, talked about the enthusiasm in the program due to the expected increase in the number of students participating in the programs this fall.

The success of summer music camps and the formation of a middle-school level basketball-style pep band have generated lots of excitement for the upcoming school year. The junior high program also restarted its jazz band, the Tuscarora Junior High School All-Star Band.

Dylan Smith, who teaches choir and general music at Tuscarora Junior High School, has seen similar increases with participation. Rounding out the district department is Ashley Smith, who teaches at East Juniata Elementary School.