BHS Band Program Growing; New Programs, Events Happening
By Julie Perine on May 05, 2015 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
This school year is about to come to a close, but the BHS Band Patrons are already looking forward to the next one – and it promises to be a banner year.
New on the horizon for the BHS Band is the formation of a high school steel drum band. For the past three years, Bridgeport Middle School has sponsored the BMS Steel Drum Band Pandemonium. A continuation of that program on the high school level will enable young musicians to continue using their newly-learned skills on the high school level.
“The talent coming out of BMS brought up the conversation about the possibility of a high school steel drum band,” said BHS Band Patron President Mike Hess.
The groundwork has been done and a steel drum class is being offered during the 2015-2016 school year at BHS. The main task remaining is to raise funds to purchase the drums, Hess said.
About half of the approximate $20,000 needed has already been raised and the other half must be raised by August, he said.
“So we have three or four fundraisers going on simultaneously,” Hess said.
One of the fundraising efforts involves the sale of bleacher cushions which Hess describes as old school.
“They’re kind of throw-back, like the ones we used back in the 1970s,” he said.
Featuring the classic Indian head in white on a red 14” by 14” cushions can be purchased for $15 each at www.bridgeportmusic.org.
The BHS Band Patrons are also hosting a July 24 golf tournament at Bel Meadow Golf Club.
Cash prizes will be given for first, second and third place finishes, Hess said. As an additional perk, Smith Company Motors out of Charleston will donate a two-year lease on a Mercedes, Volvo or Land Rover for a hole-in-one on a designated hole.
A welcome reception featuring appetizers and a cash bar will be held for participating golfers. The cost is $80 per golfer or $320 per foursome. Businesses can sponsor a hole for $150. To sign up or obtain more information, contact Gerry Hess at 304-838-0009.
The band
patrons are also actively working on a special edition of the BHS football program. Back-to-back West Virginia Class AA championships have created an occasion worthy of note, Hess said. Ads can be placed by businesses, clubs and organizations or individuals wishing to place senior ads or shout-outs. Those ads can also be purchased at www.bridgeportmusic.org. Deadline for ads is Aug. 14.
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The band is also looking to a first-time event, the Oct. 10 BHS Cavalcade of Bands. To be held at Wayne Jamison Field, the event will feature up to 14 high school bands from West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, which will be adjudicated on site. Chosen as honor band and providing an exhibition performance is the Alderson-Broaddus College Marching Band.
“The Cavalcade Corporation recently got into Parkersburg and were very successful,” Hess said. “We’re the only band in the North Central West Virginia region. We did all the paperwork and that’s been approved so we’re going out to market bands.”
Ads are also being sold for the BHS Cavalcade of Bands program. Discounts will be offered for those purchasing ads in both programs.
When the 2015-2016 school year begins, BHS will welcome an especially large freshman class.
“We have 29 students registered and we usually have 13 to 15,” Hess said. “So that’s a step in the right
direction.”
Next year, BMS eighth grade band students will be invited to march with the BHS Band and the BHS Alumni Band at the 2015 Homecoming game.
“We’ll all do the pre-game show together and the eighth graders will be invited to sit with us in the band bleachers,” Hess said. “That should be eye opening for them.”
There have been and will be changes in the BHS Band program; all positive changes, taking the band in the right direction.
During the 2014-2015 school year, the BHS Marching Band, BHS Concert Band and BHS Jazz Band scored very well at various different adjudications/festivals.
The musical interest developed by the students is carrying on behind high school education.
“We just had our senior banquet last night and for the first time in a few years we have three students going on to musical majors in college,” Hess said. “They each were presented with the John Christian Music Scholarship Award in the amount of $500.”
That scholarship award is yet another ongoing program of the BHS Band Patrons.
Those three students are (pictured from top) John Marshall, pursuing guitar/worship music at Liberty University; Cheryl Romine, pursuing a major in viola and minor in Spanish at West Virginia University and Aika Takahashi pursuing a double major in music education and jazz at Marshall University.
