Concert Band

The KPHS Concert Band is a full-year curricular course. Students will perform four major concerts throughout the year in a variety of styles including a Prism Concert and a Pops Concert. Each spring the band also performs at the Massachusetts Instrumental Conductor's Association Concert Festival. The Concert Band is the core curricular group for the wind program at KPHS. All members of all other bands, chamber groups, and jazz groups must first be members in good standing in the Concert Band. The fundamentals of tone production, ensemble playing, musical interpretation and style, rhythm studies, scale and chord studies, and basic musicianship are all important elements of the Concert Band curriculum.

The Concert Band is actually three groups in one. It is comprised of students enrolled in Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds. 

• The Wind Ensemble is a select ensemble with 1 - 2 players per part. Our more advanced players need to study more complex and sophisticated music, and be challenged to experience collegiate level performance standards. Percussionists are expected to demonstrate fluency on all of the varied percussion instruments. 

• Symphonic Winds is a course open to all students in grades 9 - 12 with previous experience playing a woodwind or brass instrument. The curriculum of this course affords less-experienced players the opportunity to play principal parts and solos, and learn how to function as a musical leader. 

• The combined group, Concert Band, affords all instrumentalists the opportunity to perform the highest quality wind literature written for large ensembles. It allows student leaders the opportunity to cultivate shared musical experiences, nurture the musicianship of the youngest members of their section, and develop a sense of pride in how their section performs. It is not uncommon, in this ensemble, for an All-State musician to play next to a student who is relatively new to playing. We consider this the hallmark of the KPHS Band experience.

The music faculty believes that this structure allows all students to have positive musical experiences. The curriculum is sequential, rigorous, varied, and concept-based. 

All students enrolled at the Honors level also perform in chamber ensembles. Chamber ensembles are small, unconducted groups in which each student has their own unique part. Each group meets after school, one day a week, to prepare for two performances - one in January and one in May. Chamber Music represents the added rigor of the Honors curriculum, as it stretches each performer to act as a soloist ALL of the time. It also holds students accountable to one another which is a valuable skill in life!

When you look at the additional ensembles and chamber groups, as well as the access to private lessons with highly qualified professional instructors, one can begin to understand the depth of the instrumental program that is in place.