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THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2021
7
Students close out successful band season at spring concert
M
BY FRANCESCA SAGALA
All bands performed “Lean On Me” at the end of the concerts
Members of the high school band perform during last week’s concerts
Seniors pose after their last band concert
Members of the high school band perform during last week’s concerts
embers of the sixthgrade band, the Blue and Gold Band (comprised of seventh and eighth graders) and the high school band at New Buffalo Middle/ High School were celebrating persevering through what turned out to be a somewhat unusual year for band during the spring band concerts at New Buffalo Slater Field Wednesday, May 26. “We had some challenges this year, but I feel we were really still able to keep music going and these kids have done a great job,” Christina Baumann, band director, said. As opposed to trooping to Lake Michigan College for the Michigan State Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) band festival in March, students participated in a virtual festival. Students did a recording in the school gym before submitting it to a panel of adjudicators. Baumann said the seventh and eighth graders received Division One ratings from those judges as well as A’s across the board in every single category, which is “difficult to do,” she said. The high school band also submitted a video recording and earned Division One ratings across the board. Baumann said they were able to have somewhat of a marching band season. Unlike in past years, the students were able to do two shows instead of just one. Baumann thanked members of the administration for allowing them to “keep band going” this past school year and “creatively” letting students be in the blue gym (as the band room wouldn’t have allowed for social distancing), as well as for their support in getting bell covers and instrument masks – “so that we can keep playing.” “That didn’t happen everywhere – even around this state even around this area,” she said.
