The West Bend Current

By Dakota Gunnare, Editor in Chief

From fifth grade beginners to exceptional high schoolers, the West Bend School District provides students with a unique opportunity for musical mastery.

West Bend School District students begin playing their instruments in fifth grade at Silverbrook Intermediate School. At both Silverbrook and Badger Middle School, students have the opportunity to play in extracurricular bands and participate in solo and ensemble contests. At the West Bend High Schools, students diversify their band skills with marching as well as concert performances. In the WBHS band, students can participate in a multitude of different extracurriculars.

“Many other districts in the area start their beginning programs in sixth grade,” said Eric Coombs, WBHS band director. “We are extremely fortunate to have the ability to start our beginners in fifth grade, which later on allows our musicians to perform at a much higher level when getting to the high school.” 

Students discover their love of music in these early stages. Nicole Hagglund, a West junior and drum major, dove into her passion for music in fifth grade when she joined Viking Attack, the extracurricular band at Silverbrook, and earned a top score at the district solo and ensemble contest. 

For current drum major and West senior Conner Trahan, participation in Badger Middle School’s extracurricular Jazz Band changed the course of his band career.

At first, Trahan was uninterested in the band.

“Once I had joined the Jazz Band in seventh grade, that really put me in gear because I loved the music we were playing, and I wanted to be like all of the other top players in our band,” Trahan said.

Trahan was inspired to practice rigorously to get to the top of the three levels of band at Badger Middle School. While in Jazz Band, students get to play many styles of jazz music, such as swing and blues.

“(Badger Middle School’s Jazz Band) will have several performances throughout the year, including the West Bend Rock n’ Jazz Fest in February,” said Brandon Yahn, Badger Middle School band director.

As ninth graders, band students play in the concert band, where they focus on developing techniques that will lay the foundation for the rest of their high school band years. Beginning in 10th grade, students either audition for the Wind Ensemble or are placed in the Symphonic Band. Students in these two bands have both a marching and concert season.

East High School senior and saxophone player Iliana Iniguez explains that the marching band season consists of fun pop songs that hype up crowds. However, marching band practices are extensive in preparing students for parades, pep band and the homecoming game field show.

“We focus on a lot of moving while also working our hardest to maintain good sounds on our instruments and make sure that the two are cohesive and present in our performance,” Iniguez said.

East junior Matthew Jezorski emphasizes that students work on upper body and foot techniques in combination with memorizing music to ensure quality performances in parades and the field show.

After the marching season comes to a close in late fall, students transition into concert season, where musical technique is at the forefront. Iniquez says that the music becomes more technical and students focus much more on the mechanics of music.

Band students would love to see their concerts receive as much attention as their marching or field show performances.

“Everyone loves watching sports like football games and sometimes basketball games, but we would love to have people come watch our concerts because everyone puts in a lot of work, and we would be delighted to see everyone there,” Trahan said. 

Students at the high school participate in a wide variety of extracurricular bands. Students can perform in Brass, Wind and Fire, which is a basketball pep band; Pulse, a jazz band; and the West Bend Brass Band, which plays New Orleans-style soul/funk music. 

“Extracurricular activities, however, are more focused on individuality in parts of music,” said Riley Tanner, a West sophomore. “We get base charts, and we expand upon those charts to create true works of art.”

These extracurriculars provide students with unique performance opportunities. Brass, Wind and Fire annually plays for a G League NBA game.

Passionate students will find no limit to the opportunities provided to them in band, both in and outside the classroom. Trahan has arranged music to be played at concerts and has played in a professional symphony orchestra as the first chair trombonist. Other students have joined Trahan in creating their own ensembles. Trahan has created a jazz combo with a small group. Jezorski started a brass band and played gigs in the local community for organizations like Cedar Community.

“We are very fortunate to have the ability to offer so much variety with our program and be able to showcase the level of commitment and talent that the students perform with,” Coombs said. “We are in a unique situation that many schools would truly like to have. We are extremely lucky to have the support that we receive.”

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(Top image: The West Bend High Schools pep band performs at the “Walk to End Alzheimer’s” event. Photo courtesy of Nicole Hagglund.)