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NOVEMBER 15, 2022
IRISHMEGAPHONE.COM
"The Sport of the Arts" On Friday Nights They Come Out Ready to Play, not Football, but Trumpets and Clarinets BY LIAM EIFERT
Director of Bands Ms. Kathy McCullough takes particular pride in a statistic she’s gathered from all her years of directing. For each band student, she said, “If they start their freshmen year, 92 percent of those, so 9.2 out of ten will stay all four years.” McCullough sees that sort of long term continuity as essential for the success of her program. Starting from the very beginning, McCullough stressed the importance of band camp when students gear up for marching band in a week of all-day sessions in late July. McCullough said, “Most kids are there at camp because that’s where we learn most of our stuff.” McCullough mentioned some kids had to clear busy schedules to make time for the camp. She said, “The kids that double dip or triple dip (in extracurriculars) are the impressive ones to me. They make it work for them and it’s great. When they go out and say they have these experiences, employers like that. They like football players that were in band and acted on stage. They like cross country runners who were drum majors and were in National Honor Society.” The band schedule doesn’t stop with marching band though, and continues throughout the entire school year. Later this year, the band will play pep band at basketball games, a Christmas concert in December, solo and ensemble pieces in the winter, and a spring concert in May. McCullough stressed the importance of learning how to play different types of music. She said, “Concert music is wonderful, pep band music is fun, marching
Seniors Joseph Jideonwo (left), and Micah Wasmuth (right) pictured with their designated instruments.
band music you play over and over but you’re learning a physical skill with it, and then solo and ensemble is to your level.”
To try and just get people to listen and follow what (I’m) doing, it takes time to establish that connection.”
Seniors Antonio Arroyo and Olivia Griffith are this year’s drum majors, selected after auditions held at the end of last school year. Arroyo described the role, “The drum major sets the tempo for the band, we conduct the band and we lead the band in the parades, so we’re kind of like assistants to Ms. McCullough.”
McCullough also emphasized the importance of student leadership in the band. She said, “I’m not usually the one telling them what to do, it’s usually their section leader.” This sort of student leadership allows relationships which bridge the gap between grades. McCullough said, “The kids know each other. Freshmen are friends with juniors, they are not just freshmen. They are friends with other freshmen too, but they have friends in their section. So if I’m a trumpet freshman I have trumpet friends from freshman through senior, and I have freshman friends in all the sections.”
Arroyo said he was inspired to be drum major after being section leader for the tenor saxophones last year. Even though he had this prior leadership experience, he said, “It was a big jump, that’s for sure because for tenors (I) knew everyone, was comfortable with them, but with the whole band it’s just different because it’s ninety people, (I) don’t know everyone.
McCullough said, “I can’t do it by myself. I cannot do everything to make a band work. It’s impossible.” She said, “It’s incum-