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3/15/2023 0 Comments

Dear Wildcat Band Families,
This week, the band is going on the 2023 Band Ski Trip! The Wildcat Band is heading up this Friday night 3/17, for a nice full day of skiing on Saturday, 3/18. We have 41 students attending the trip, all with varying skill levels. Many of the students coming up with us will be trying to ski/snowboard for the first time – taking lessons that will set them up for a full day on the slopes. Pats Peak reported today that they received 30 inches of snow yesterday… they must have knew we were coming... Students will get back to WHS by 6:00 on Saturday, 3/18.

With the end of the year slowly approaching, we have auditions for both concert and jazz band coming up! Our concert band auditions are for solos in the upcoming spring concert and will be held on Thursday, March 16th in class. The next auditions are for jazz band in the 2023-2024 school year. The audition music is posted in the HS & 8th Grade Google Classroom, and the audition date is TBD. Make sure you practice before auditions! Best of luck to all band members auditioning in the upcoming few months.

The band has some performances in the next two months that we have been working toward! The jazz band will be performing in the Pops Concert on Thursday, March 30th. This concert will be at 7:00 PM in the Joanne Benton Auditorium at Wilmington High School auditorium (tickets will be sold at the door, however, students may purchase tickets in advance through Mr. Ferrara). We will also be hosting our first annual (surprise) guest artist that will be playing on two songs! Our Concert Band performance will be on May 2nd in the Wilmington High School Gymnasium. This concert will feature all Wilmington Band Students, ranging from grade 4 to 12. We are looking forward to seeing you at all of our upcoming performances!!

Lastly, do not forget to buy raffle tickets for our calendar fundraiser. They are $5 for one, or $10 for three. Reach out to any high school band member to purchase your tickets!

-Marni McBride (Media and Communication Chair)

2/14/2023 0 Comments

Dear Wildcat Band Families,

In the past month, the band has been working very hard on music for our upcoming concert in May (May 2nd – save the date!). The first pieces of music we received and have been devoting the most amount of time to are The Bare Necessities, arranged by Paul Murtha, and How To Train Your Dragon, arranged by Sean O’Loughlin. Although they are not quite concert ready, these two pieces have come a long way since we first started working on them. How To Train Your Dragon is our most challenging piece of music for the concert, and all the effort that is being put into it is helping us grow immensely. Next, we received Kyiv, 2022, arranged by Brian Balmages. Written about the war between Russia and Ukraine, this piece is very moving and is essentially a “song of hope” for the people of Ukraine. Written to contrast Balmages earlier work, Moscow, 1941, where Russia was painted as a hero fighting against German advances, Kyiv, 2022, retells the story using the same melodic material, only now used to paint Russia as the aggressor. Balmages incorporates the Ukrainian National Anthem to represent the people of Ukraine. This piece will be performed at our May 2nd Concert in the WHS Gymnasium.

Our newest addition to the folder is On A Hymnsong Of Philip Bliss, arranged by David R. Holsinger. This piece is a collegiate level piece of music, and it adds diversity to our program as it is both slower and more peaceful than our other selections. There may be an additional song added, and we will keep you posted!

As we have been working on these pieces, we have also been adding different things during class to keep the band on their toes. We began working in small mixed-instrument groups, picking our own music and working together without Mr. Ferrara’s conducting. This is a work in progress but will be continued for the rest of the year. These groups are giving students independence in their musical studies, as well as a way to work with peers they don’t usually get to work with. We also recently had a free seating day in class! All stand partners got to choose where in the room they wanted to sit, and had the opportunity to sit next to friends in different sections. This made the class very fun, and we are looking forward to doing it again! Lastly, we are very excited to announce the 2023 Band Ski Trip on March 17-18. All paperwork and the first payment are due Friday, February 10th. We are very excited about the band events coming up in the future!!
-Marni McBride
Media and Communication Chair

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