Instrumental Ensembles
Concert Band
This is a full band ensemble featuring winds and percussion. Emphasis for the course is on fundamentals of performance: scales, music reading, musical terminology. This is taught through exploration of concert band repertoire. Any student with the recommendation of their last band director is invited to register for this course. This course requires student participation in four evening/weekend concerts for the school-year.
Symphonic Band
This is a full band ensemble featuring winds and percussion. The emphasis for the course is on musicianship through exploration of both traditional and contemporary band literature. Any student who has had experience playing a band instrument is invited to audition for entrance into this course. The difficulty level of the music performed in this course is greater than that of Concert Band—and there is an expectation that students perform “up” to the level of the music. Incoming 9th grade students who audition for this group usually have a period of time at the start of the year where they are working harder to move up to the performance level of the upperclassmen who have worked through the Concert Band. This course requires student participation in four evening/weekend concerts for the school year.