Unique in arrangement and schedule, this year’s St. Peter’s band is expecting 25 high school students to participate in a tuneful tradition.
Band director Lew Friend explained that the St. Peter’s band isn’t like most other schools in that it lacks a football team; hence, there aren’t halftime shows to perform in during the fall. This, however, does not prevent the Spartan band from displaying their marching skills.
The band will make an appearance at the Halloween parade, Veteran’s Day parade, and Memorial Day parade during the 2013-2014 school year. This schedule is consistent with previous years.
While the band doesn’t necessarily have to endure “band camp” during the summer, 17 students took the initiative to seek one-on-one assistance from their director to strengthen their instrumentation. Additionally, all of the band members will partake in three weeks of street parade marching practice to get their marching feet wet before performance time.
“We’re going to do classic music with some newer music,” said Friend. “I don’t want the kids to be like, ‘This is 70 years old,’ and not get excited about what we’re playing,” he added. And yet, he did want to ensure that there was a nice balance among the different eras from which he pulled the music.
In addition to the parades, the band will also perform at a Christmas and spring concert, and many band members choose to take part in the solo and ensemble competition for District 10 and some like to be involved in the school musicals. Others choose to be a part of the pep band, which performs at the high school basketball games.
Friend stated, “I’m working on getting a jazz band together, but one of the hardest parts is trying to get the kids together [to practice]. So many of them are involved in other activities and I don’t want to take away from other things they have going on, but I did get plenty of interest from those wanting to be in jazz band.”
Last year, the band was featured at the Ohio Capitol rally. Friend noted that St. Peter’s was the only band to have participated and that it was a neat experience for the band and himself. Two years ago, the band played at the 75th anniversary of the Ohio State Reformatory.
This is Friend’s sixth year to lead the St. Peter’s band as its director. One of his goals is bringing back the band boosters and he’s also looking forward to helping cultivate and maintain the interest of the several youths who participate in band. He stated that he will have approximately 40 students from the junior high and 56 students from the elementary in band this school year.
Keeping his statement simple about his experience at St. Peter’s, he said, “It’s a wonderful place to teach.”
“We’re going to do classic music with some newer music,” said director Lew Friend.