The Central High School Band Program is dedicated to providing students with a quality music education through performance, classroom instruction, and community engagement. We do this by providing individual student lessons with a teacher once per week, programming challenging repertoire from composers of various backgrounds, and participating in events throughout the La Crosse Community. You can find the Central Bands performing at formal concerts, home football games, the Maple Leaf and Torchlight Parades, Solo & Ensemble and Large Group Festivals, and other area community events. The Central Bands have a longstanding tradition of providing students with opportunities to perform at the highest level. Central Bands have been invited to perform at the National Band Association Convention, Wisconsin Concert Band Association Convention, and Wisconsin State Music Conference multiple times
Below are the various types of ensembles that are avialable to students in the Central Bands
All students in band participate in the Riverhawk Marching Band during the fall season. The marching band performs at home football games and various community events. To learn more about marching band, click here.
After the marching season, the band splits into our two concert bands. The Wind Ensemble, and the Symphonic Band. To learn more about concert band, click here.
Jazz band is open to all students in a performing music class at Central. Both jazz bands rehearse outside of the school day. No audition required for Jazz II. To learn more about jazz band, click here.
Students participate in optional pep bands during the winter girls and boys basketball seasons. The pep band plays music from the marching season, and rotates through new and old pep tunes.
Students who play a brass instrument are able to participate in the Holiday Brass Ensemble. This ensemble meets during the Fall and Winter months and performs festive music at various events throughout the season. Students in this ensemble also have the opportunity to travel to Madison to play for the tree lighting ceremony at the Capitol building.
The show band is a great opportunity for students to play modern styles of music. The show band accompanies the River City Revolution and is open to any students at Logan and Central who are in a performing music class. There are opportunities for brass, woodwinds, keyboards, drums, guitar, and bass.
The La Crosse Confluence is a collaborative rock and roll cover band between Logan and Central High School Students. Anyone is welcome to join, and there are options for almost any instrument. Auditions for Confluence take place in the spring.
In addition to the many ensembles led by a director, there are many opportunities for students to from their own groups to perform or just have fun. The groups can be purely student-led or they can have help from a band director whenever needed. Examples of previous student-led groups include a saxophone ensemble, trombone quartet, jazz combo, and polka band.