SHS bands ready to rock Panida
SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint High School band program continued its rocket-like growth curve this school year and Panhandle State Bank has stepped in to boost that trajectory with a matching grant for new instruments.
On Thursday, June 3, at 7 p.m., the high school’s five different bands will perform in concert at the Panida Theater for a fundraiser aimed at landing a $5,000 matching grant through the bank’s annual Community Match program.
“We try to support the schools and this year, we felt that the music department has such value that we wanted to support this program,” said Paralee Gates, manager for the Sandpoint branch of PSB.
Bank officials first decided to get behind the high school band after learning that director Aaron Gordon was trying to raise money for additional instruments to keep up with student interest in being part of the SHS instrumental music groups, which include concert band, symphonic band, steel pan band and two jazz bands.
Find a way to raise up to $5,000, they told Gordon, and we’ll double down for the same amount.
“Right now, we’re just a little bit over halfway to that goal,” the band director said, adding that the June 3 concert at the Panida represents the last major opportunity to put it over the top.
The band program is hoping to purchase a new baritone saxophone, piccolo flutes, a bass trombone or tuba and a bass steel drum with the funds. The reason is simple: Gordon expects a floodtide of student musicians for the 2010-2011 school year.
“We have about 120 band students this year, which is 15 percent of the school population,” he said, pointing out that the SHS choral program claims an additional 15 percent of total student headcount. “We’re expecting a gigantic jump in band enrollment next year.”
The increase, the director explained, is due to the efforts of the band instructors that work with Lake Pend Oreille School District instrumental music stduents at the elementary and middle school levels. According to Gordon, elementary school band director Greg Schuh, working with assistant director Paul Gunter, has built the largest elementary band program in the state. Middle school director Ryan Dignan has built on that momentum and will hand off what is expected the largest group of incoming freshman band students in the SHS history, the director noted.
“At the high school level, we’ve already got the biggest band program in the region, with more band students than a lot of high schools that are a lot larger than we are,” said Gordon. “We’ll probably seat a 100-person Pep Band in the stands next year, which is amazing.”
The newest ensemble in the SHS band lineup — and definitely the most visible — has been the school’s Steel Pan Band, made up of 11 steel drums purchased through a Panhandle Alliance for Education grant about two years ago. As part of its fundraising activities, the steel drums were carted out to the corner across from PSB on May 14 to provide music for the bank’s “Lost in the ‘50s” celebration.
Besides being eye- and ear-catching, the steel drums tend to be less troublesome than traditional brass and woodwind instruments in outdoor playing settings.
“With our weather around here, it’s almost impossible to do a symphonic band or even a jazz band concert outside,” Gordon said. “But with a steel drum band — unless it’s raining and filling up the bowls with water or it’s 20 below — we can still play.
“The instruments still go out of tune when the temperature changes,” he added, “but at least they all go out of tune in the same direction.”
Tickets for the June 3 SHS Band Concert are $5, available at Panhandle State Bank, at the door of the Panida Theater on the evening of the performance, or from high school band students, who have been canvassing the area with tickets in hand.
Information: (208) 263-0505