News Photo by Julie Riddle Band members prepare to perform the National Anthem at the start of a Hillman Community Schools board meeting at the high school on Tuesday.

ALPENA — When the Detroit Tigers called Ben Witter in January 2020 to ask for a demo tape, the Hillman Community Schools band instructor was shocked.

“I have no idea” how the district’s bands got on the Major League Baseball team’s radar, Witter said.

Next week, after a two-year pandemic delay, 45 Hillman young people will lead Tigers and the audience at Comerica Park in a rousing rendition of the National Anthem.

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As far as Witter knows, Hillman is the only school in northern Michigan – if not the only school in the state – to be honored with such an invitation this MLB season.

Hillman sixth and seventh graders and high school students will head to Detroit early on April 21 and return that evening, with a pause in the middle to play their nation’s anthem at a 1:10 p.m. game against the Yankees.

A caravan of fans is expected to join in on the outing, with parents, teachers, more than 100 students, and other supporters taking advantage of reduced-price tickets to sit in a designated Hillman section and cheer on their hometown musicians.

The band program, in its current permutation, has only existed for four years, “and two of those were COVID,” Witter said.

The initial cold call from the Tigers came just before the pandemic temporarily shut down both professional sports and band classes.

Witter was delighted when the team called again this January, and he readily sent the requested audition tape. When he got the official invite, he immediately started working with the younger band students, perfecting the song the high school band already had under their belts.

A Major League Baseball strike, announced after the Tigers invited the Hillman students and only recently resolved, threatened the band’s chance to perform, Witter said.

Many band members have never been to a Tigers game or even to Detroit, much less had the chance to play for a Major League-sized audience, Witter said.

He’s not sure if the honor comes with any other perks, such as an introduction to the team.

“I don’t know if we’ll meet them,” he said, “but we’ll be standing pretty close to ’em.”

The students will wear custom jerseys for the big moment that will serve as a highlight of their school band experience.

Music gives you something you can take with you for the rest of your life, Witter said.

“It changes you,” he said. “On a molecular level.”

Band members on Tuesday led the district’s Board of Education in the National Anthem before the Board’s regular meeting.

As they put their instruments away afterward, the students grinned and laughed, saying they were excited about their upcoming trip downstate.

Seventh grader and alto saxophone player Elijah Schulze admitted he’s scared, but confident, too.

“I’m probably going to have butterflies,” he said.

Music is worth the work it requires, said Savannah Waterbury, seventh grader and tenor saxophone player.

“I feel happy when I’m doing it,” she said. “I’m glad it gets to be part of my life.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.