Our Program
Middle School Ensembles
6th Grade Beginning Band
7th Grade Intermediate Band
8th Grade Advanced Band
Jazz Band (after school on Wednesdays)
Wisconsin School Music Association Accreditation
Our music department at DAMS is proud to be accredited through WSMA (Wisconsin School Music Association) for the 2019-2020 school year! To learn more, click here.
Band Philosophy and Goals
The instrumental music program at DeForest Area Middle School is designed to serve the special musical and developmental needs of the middle school student.
The band experience serves the needs of self-expression and self-fulfillment. It is a subject that encourages sensitivity to one's own feelings and the feelings of others. Band also fosters thinking, reasoning and listening skills, positive attitudes, self-reliance, a spirit of cooperation, and self-discipline. These are not skills solely related to music; they are life skills, desired in all academic disciplines, vocations and human interactions.
The focus of the band program is music. Music involves many different roles and activities for those that practice it. Students will have the opportunity to experience and wear many of the musician's hats: composer, performer, listener, analyzer, interpreter, evaluator and planner, to name a few.
The overriding goal of the band program is to help each student develop the skills needed to become a confident, sensitive, and independent thinker.