Bankenbush performs with National Honor Band

Sundance High School junior and talented flautist Branson Bankenbush traveled to Iowa this weekend to perform with the National Honor Band. The event is an opportunity to showcase the top-performing high school musicians in the United States.

The process of being selected for the band was one surprise after another, he says, starting when his teacher, Teresa Preisner, let him know that she'd put his name forward.

Next came the audition piece, for which Preisner told him she had selected a video of a piccolo solo of "Stars and Stripes" that he'd performed a little while ago.

"She didn't tell...