Band

Students in Lake Geneva Schools have the opportunity to participate in band from grades 5-12. Students will participate in concert band, marching band, and an optional extra curricular Jazz Band. Jazz Band explores the genres of swing, funk, Latin, and ballads. A wide variety of music for winds and percussion will be studied and performed throughout the year. Students attend lessons during the school day on a regular basis. Attending all full band performances is a course requirement. Instruments part of the band: flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, french horn, trumpet, trombone, baritone, tuba, bass guitar, percussion. *New students to band must take Summer Band in order to participate.

WHY BAND?
Although many see band as a class on learning to play an instrument, it is much more than that.  WHY BAND?  The answer to the question has some lifelong implications.  In many respects, band is a microcosm of our society.  It demands high levels of responsibility, social skills, ongoing communication, analytical talents, and the important ability to work with others.  Simply put, learning a musical instrument and continuing to explore the limitless possibilities of music provide an excellent preparation for life.  

MUSIC IS A SCIENCE 
It is exact, specific, and it demands exact acoustics.  A conductor’s full score is a chart, a graph that indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time. 

MUSIC IS MATHEMATICAL 
It is rhythmically based on the subdivision of time into fractions, which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper. 

MUSIC IS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is certainly not English – but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas.  The semantics of music is the most complex and universal language. 

MUSIC IS HISTORY 
Music usually reflects the environment and time of its creation, as well as the country, climate and national feelings. 

MUSIC IS PHYSICAL EDUCATION 
It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek, and facial muscles, in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles.  The mind interprets and the body responds instantly to the visual sight of the musical notation and the sound the ear hears. 

MUSIC IS ALL OF THESE THINGS, BUT MOST OF ALL, MUSIC IS ART 
It allows a human being to take complex techniques and use them to create emotion. That is one thing science cannot duplicate: humanism, feeling, and emotion.