About the Band Program

Located in the northwest portion of Austin, Texas, Canyon Ridge Middle School is home to roughly 1000 students in grades 6 through 8. The Band Program serves about 325 students annually with beginner enrollment typically around 150 students. 7th and 8th grade students are enrolled in one of four performing bands and 6th grade beginning band classes meet in one of nine different homogeneous classes. Mrs. Amy Allison-Rivera opened the Canyon Ridge band hall in 2004 and has been the only Director of Bands Canyon Ridge has known. Along with associate directors Steve Myers and Tristan Rivera, the CRMS Band Program has a rich history of outstanding achievement. 

In 2021, the CRMS Band Program was named the Exemplary Middle School Band Program by the Texas Bandmasters Association as well as being awarded the Silver Sudler Cup from the John Philip Sousa Foundation in 2017. Amid the pandemic in 2020, the Honor Band was named an Invited Band by the Texas Music Educators Association and delivered a wonderfully moving and poignant performance at the virtual TMEA Conference in February 2021. The Honor Band also performed at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois, in December of 2014 and has been invited to perform again in December 2025! Mrs. Allison-Rivera also brought the Honor Band to the TBA Convention in 2015 to give a demonstration clinic on rehearsal strategies and practice techniques. The CRMS Band teamed up with the Leander MS Band in 2023 to deliver a clinic on the new UIL Sight Reading procedures at TBA as well. The band program placed tenth at the state level of the CC Honor Band competition in 2006 and has been named a National Winner in the National Wind Band Honors through the Foundation for Music Education 5 times since 2011. The Symphonic Band has been named a Citation of Excellence Winner in the same contest 3 times since 2016. In the 20 years the school has been open, the bands at both the varsity and non-varsity levels have consistently received sweepstakes ratings at the Texas UIL Concert and Sight-reading Contest and have been selected as Outstanding In Class and Outstanding Overall at several festivals across the state. The band program has been well represented in the TMEA All-Region Band and Orchestra Auditions and at Solo and Ensemble Contests.

The private lesson program is an integral piece of the band program. The program currently employs more than 20 lesson teachers, most of whom are shared in our feeder cluster with Four Points Middle School and Vandegrift High School. The band directors in all three programs consider their bands to be part of one large band family and work closely together to make sure the children in their community are offered a consistent band experience from 6th through 12th grade. They are taught with a positive approach of acceptance along with high expectations.

Students in the band program are very active in other activities, including National Junior Honor Society, Robotics, Gateway, Destination Imagination, Student Council, Athletics, Choir, Drill Team, and Cheer. It is the goal of the band program to foster a lifelong love of music and to develop future supporters of the arts.