Windham High School Band Updates

Windham High School Band Updates

The Windham High School Band is busier than ever before preparing for festivals and performances. Although young, they are thriving in the music world.

The band will be travelling once more this year all the way to Chicago, Illinois for the Heritage Festival of Gold, which runs from Saturday, March 23 to Tuesday, March 26. The group was invited to participate in this festival as a result of last year’s Heritage Festival in New York City, the scores and awards they received putting them in next category. While in New York the band earned a gold medal, first place in their division, the adjudicator’s award for their overall score, two soloist awards, and the overall best band award. This also resulted in the band’s invitation to perform in Chicago. The Festival of Gold is not so much a competition as a celebration of what the band has achieved. The festival will highlight individual students and full ensembles as students from each participating school can audition to be a part of an honors ensemble.  Each ensemble will have an hour and a half clinic with a well-known music educator or conductor and perform during a silent adjudication at Orchestra Hall – the home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  The following night the highest scoring ensembles in each division as well as the honors groups will perform.

The Windham High School Band was also selected to participate in the National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Conference in Hartford, Connecticut on Friday, April 5. Many ensembles apply to perform at these conferences, and the WHS Concert Band was one of three bands selected out of the entire Eastern Division and Europe to participate. The conference is extremely difficult to get in to, and the ensembles selected do not have to pay to go as they do with the Heritage Festival. “We’re still a new school…it takes most programs many, many years to get to this point,” said band director Jared Cassedy. A concert band being selected for the Eastern Division Conference is much like a marching band getting into the Rose Bowl or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “When it comes to music programs, many are judged by the program’s numbers, how many parades they march in, how many televised events you’re in, however, there are so many prestigious concert band festivals and opportunities that are out there.  I really focus on music education and providing my students with the most valuable experiences possible,” explained an ecstatic Mr. Cassedy.   

The band program is also very excited to have a new Middle School director, Becky Pierce, on board. Mr. Cassedy and she are incredibly dedicated to creating a seamless transition between middle school and high school band. The band directors share many of the same philosophies and this will be a turning point for the program.

If you would like to become more involved in the music programs in Windham, join the Windham Musical Arts Association (WMAA). WMAA is a parent boosters club who has done many amazing things between volunteering, fundraising, and supporting choir and band as a whole. You can become member by contacting Mr. Cassedy at jcassedy@windhamhighschool.org.