Welcome Everyone!

Thank you for coming to one of my favorite concert concepts! Having the students take the lead! This concert tonight is almost entirely student planned, rehearsed, and led and I am incredibly proud of ALL of these students, both the leaders and followers.

Before we begin, I want to thank you all for adhering to our school's mask rules and properly wearing your mask when indoors at any school facility. Even with the loosening of mask guidelines, schools are not included in the changes, so masks are still required to be worn in all indoor facilities. As a courtesy and custom to the performers, please silence all electronic devices and remain quiet and in your seats while the students are playing. If you need to leave for the restroom, please wait until between songs.

We begin the evening with our small ensembles. Each of these has been primarily rehearsed by the students. During class, the sections break apart and work on their music as a group. While they are rehearsing, all I do is pop in and out either playing along, or giving a quick tip or two. This has led to more practicing by the students on their own than I have seen in awhile. They really want to be successful and have taken the initiative to lead.

The exception to this is the first group. This group was coached throughout January by Kirk Berkland and myself, and involved a LOT of training to get new members up to speed. We even have some excellent young snare drummers from the Ranch/Maze band They will be playing the first third of their show "Toxic City".

The second half of the concert is under the baton of some accomplished students and I invite you to click on the titles below for more information.

Like last concert, I'd like to invite you to check out our website but especially our calendar and "Why Band?" page. This page was designed to give information on the advantages of being in the band program and continuing throughout school especially for our incoming middle schoolers, but it also has information our current students and parents should know. I am trying to keep all of the information up to date, but it's an ongoing process. Please bookmark this site and check it out periodically!

Finally, we have our AMAZING band pillows for sale in the lobby. You can purchase them in person tonight, or click here to purchase them later if needed. Further on down the page, you will see ads from some of our sponsors. These are local businesses that have helped us by supporting the work of the Baler Band Boosters, and we can't thank them enough. Please consider bringing them your business and work to keep your shopping local.

Thank you and enjoy!