High School Band Experience

-High school choir will be here to meet with interested 8th graders Tuesday during advisory. Tim Perrigot is meeting with football

Purpose: The purpose of the following document is to highlight to the Board of Heritage Christian Academy the current state of, the challenges faced by, the vision for, and the future potential of the band program.

As with most kids, I was a bit nervous about my transition from middle school to high school. One advantage I had was that I participated in band in middle school and planned to be in the band in high school. The Round Rock High School band has a history of excellence and I was looking forward to being a part of that organization. This was an extraordinary time and I looked forward to being a part of the band with great anticipation. Being a part of an organization such as this makes the transition to high school seem much easier and it seemed I had a ready-made group of friends that I could rely on and ask questions of if necessary. After all, the Round Rock High School Band has over 300 members.

Being in the UNCG Honors Band was the best experience I've had with an outside band. The band itself was made out the most talented high school musicians in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tenseness. I felt extremely proud that I had made this band and I felt that I had moved up from being just a high school musician to a serious musician just being around all these other students who were proficient or higher on their instrument. UNCG Honors Band was important to me because not only did I get my first real experience with a college band, but I got a first glimpse of what is to come for me as a tuba player.

The summer of 2013 was both a time of celebration, as I had just graduated middle school, and a time of insecurities, as I started my journey as a member of my high school’s marching band. In middle school, I was normally a shy, quiet person, so it comes as no surprise that I felt uncomfortable at my first marching band practice. In addition, very few of my band friends in middle school had continued into high school marching band, creating a feeling of isolation over me.

Despite a few setbacks during the game, the middle schoolers relish the idea of coming back to perform at another game. One band student, in particular, Sam Adamson, appreciated the time he had to perform with his bandmates and awaits an opportunity to attend another Bowman game. The Bowmen football game turned out to be an exciting and educational experience for many middle school students there, and many hope there will still be a Bowmen game to act as an inspiration for 8th-grade students to join band next year in high

When I came to Highlands Ranch High School as a freshman, I didn’t know where I belonged. I had done soccer, but a concussion and several headaches later, decided it wasn’t for me. I had tried fully devoting myself to academics, but later realized that I can’t spend my life focusing on grades. I didn’t have anywhere to belong. Then, in the winter of my freshman year, I was persuaded into doing winter percussion. I had never played an instrument before and had absolutely no idea what was going on. I didn’t even really know what a quarter note was, no less how to count them. My freshman self was totally clueless and wanted to quit at first because I was so bad and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But, I stuck with it to the end of the winter percussion season and when we took second place in the state suddenly all the long hours of rehearsal and constant changes were totally worth it.

I stood on the podium, looking out at the field and took a deep breath. The fans in the stands behind me were a buzz in my ears as I made eye contact with every member of the band. I held my hands up and clapped three times and then SNAP! The instruments were up and I counted off, starting our first marching band show of the season.

The activities that i'm involved in, inside of school are Marching Band. The Albert Lea High School Marching Band is during the summer and lasts about a week. It’s a blast and I meet new friends, also 8th Graders are allowed to do marching band and us upper kids help them with marching and memorizing the music. I also do regular Band class here at school. I play the Flute and are now learning how to play the Tuba, during the marching band season I do Drumline. I use to play softball and volleyball. Softball wasn’t the greatest, I mean getting hit in the face with softballs isn’t fun, other than that I had a great time and games and the girls on my team were the nicest. I played volleyball for 3 years. I had to skip a year of volleyball to plan my Quinceanera. This year, my sophomore year, I tried out for volleyball. Sadly I didn’t make it. Even though i was bummed out, I learned to cope with it.

In the blog “We Need to Fight this Trend: Marching Bands Taking Steps to Survive,” Karina Bland speaks of Gary Anderson’s pursuit to build up bands and highlights the importance of such a program. Both musical enthusiasts wish to keep band functioning for students, stating that “music may be the only thing that keeps them in school.” They are supportive of activities students find interest

Not many things in life faze me, I mean of course I feel sad when

I have been in the Junior Scholars program and a part of Vista Verde’s band for the past two years, and both programs expect lots from you. For example, when we begin practicing for marching season I have to practice many hours memorizing my marching music. To add on to

Despite enjoying music, Mr. House did not join the band when he first came to campus. He and his girlfriend felt that the Georgia Tech band program was not up to their standards, and Mr. House’s high school band teacher had attended Jacksonville State University (JSU) with Georgia Tech band director, Bucky Johnson, before he transferred or “quit” to the University of Georgia (UGA). In the time that Bucky was in charge he brought the band a very long way. The first year they went to all the football games and realized that they missed being a part of the band. The fall of his sophomore year Mr. House joined the band.

In the spotlight of stage fright, I started marching toward the 50 yard line, setting down my other flags along the way. The line was only a few more steps away, but it looked like it was a million miles away. With every step I took, my breathing got faster, my knuckles clenched my

Today was and exciting day for the Junior Varsity Marching Band. It was a pleasure to see all of the students eager to partake on this wonderful journey of instrumental music. Today, each student should have received a packet of information one was the parent meeting agenda which is scheduled for Tuesday, September 20, 2016 at 6:30p.m. in the Oak Park High School Auditorium. The second piece of information was the schedule for the season and the third piece was the order form for the uniform. To provide some clarity for you all the total cost of everything that needs to be order is $130.00. If you are writing a check or money order please make it payable to Oak Park School District.