Eastside High School’s Mighty Rams Band is adding new members, and some of them have been playing their instruments for less than a year. A combination of returning and new members came together for a one-day preview marching band camp last week.
Several of the new marching band members came from the school’s new beginning band class. The class, taught by band director Joseph Hughes, introduces students with no previous experience to band instruments. He said when students approach a new instrument, their success depends on their attitude.
“Different students have different levels of achievement and levels of success, but they all have that room to grow and that opportunity to learn whatever they can learn,” Hughes said.
Many of the beginning band students had never played an instrument. Others had tried before and given up or played another, non-marching band instrument like guitar or piano.
When potential band members arrived at the one-day band camp last week, they mixed with experienced members. One of those leadership students, Isaac Savin, gave the group a briefing on band etiquette.
“In band, we are all a team, no matter what skill level you are,” Savin told the students.
Ania Makinde never thought she would be a band student. She thought everyone involved in band was “weird,” and did not want to be involved with them. In her sophomore year of high school, she decided to give it a try.
With no musical experience other than dance and being in a “musical family,” Makinde progressed quickly enough to join the concert band class as a euphonium player for the second semester.
“Like how my family has stories of when they were in high school and they did all the sports and athletics and teams and stuff… I wanted to be able to look back and be like, yeah I did this,” Makinde said.
Sophomore Jordan Lett said he did not know what a trumpet was before he joined the class. Now he enjoys playing trumpet with the marching band at football games. He is not sure how he got enrolled in the class, but Hughes’ instruction and the band community convinced him to stay.
“I’m generally a shy person, but being in band kind of brought me out of my shell,” Lett said. “I think these people are just cool… I’m grateful to be here.”
Both Makinde and Lett love the people and energy of the marching band. Lett said he used to be more shy, but the people and experiences of the band have drawn him out of his shell.
Hughes said marching band helps students grow as people, and while learning to play a new instrument is difficult, but that is part of why it is a good experience.
“If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it,” Hughes said. “But what those challenges do is give us opportunities as a group to overcome and learn things about ourselves.”
A beginning band program at the high school level is not typical. Most students in high school bands first learned to play in middle school, or took private music lessons. The Eastside program’s success may be the start of a trend in Alachua County, with Santa Fe High School looking at starting a beginning band class next school year.
About half of EHS’s beginning band class will be in the marching band in the coming school year. The one-day camp acted as a preview for a two-week band camp in July.
