New teacher puts on spring band concert
As you walk into a Varsity Band practice, you hear the tubas, trumpets, and French horns, among the other instruments. The band members are practicing for their annual spring concert, which will be held on March 17, in the auditorium.
This year’s spring concert will be special, because it is the first spring concert to be directed by the new Varsity Band teacher, Joel Bryan. Bryan is now conducting the Varsity Band. The previous band teacher, Dennis Lindsay, is focusing on the Wind and Percussion Ensembles.
“I decided to teach music during college. I loved band in high school, but college was the first chance I got to try some teaching and I was surprised to find out how much I enjoyed it,” Bryan said.
Bryan decided to teach at Stillwater because he grew up in Brooklyn Park, and wanted to teach at a big high school.
“I worked for two years in Lanesboro, Minnesota which was a VERY small school (class sizes of about 25); then for seven years in Cannon Falls, which is also small (class sizes around 100),” Bryan said. “When I saw a position open at Stillwater, I jumped at the chance,” he added.
Though small, with only 14 students, the Varsity Band, under the leadership of Bryan, has performed their first concert so far this year, the Stillwater Bands ‘Kaleidoscope’ Concert, in which all three Stillwater bands perform. The bands also played in the annual Holiday concert, along with the Stillwater Orchestra and the Choirs. Band members have also participated in the Solo Ensemble competition, which leads up to the Minnesota State High School League sponsored band competition, in which the various high schools band members in the state, get together and compete.
“Each member of the band recently performed at Solo Ensemble contest in one of three ensembles: the Brass Ensemble, Saxophone Quartet and Percussion Trio. All three groups did very well,” Bryan said.
The band program is one of the oldest in the state of Minnesota, and it is also one of the most successful. One of the bands at Stillwater, the Wind Symphony, has received superior ratings at the Minnesota State High School League state band competition for sixty-five straight years.
The bands in Stillwater have performed around the country, traveling to Chicago often, as well as other venues from the Midwest to Washington D.C., where they will be performing this year. The Stillwater Wind Symphony will attend the Sousa Festival, held in D.C. on April 3, where they will perform along with two other high school and college bands, the Doane College Symphonic Wind Ensemble from Nebraska, and the New Mexico State University Wind Symphony located in New Mexico.
The performance is free to attend, for anyone who happens to be in the D.C. area. It will take place in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall. Tickets are available at http://sousabandfestival.org/tickets/ for no cost, but you must register.
“I think that these trips really help increase the prestige of the band program, and they are a good opportunity [just like all concerts] at home or somewhere else,” junior Daniel Meyer said. Meyer is not going to D.C., but he is attending the annual trip to Chicago.
For this year’s spring concert, the students will be performing several songs that are sure to make the concert a success, as it always it. With new leadership from Bryan, the band has made great strides in showing the community the immense talent in the Stillwater Schools’ musicians.
“Each of these small groups is going to perform at the Spring Concert. We also have a couple of pieces to perform all together. One piece we’re particularly excited to perform is called Do Whatcha Wanna by the Rebrith Brass Band, which was originally a New Orleans street band. We’re excited to put our own spin on that one!” Bryan explained.
