This is really cool… I got approached by Hamilton Public School late 2015 to start up a band. I told them my vision of a massive contemporary band with heaps of guitars, keyboards, drums, percussion, ukuleles & singers that learns songs that the kids will enjoy & they were all for it!
I’ve completely thrown the rule book out when it comes to school bands here, there are no other primary schools around the area (or even the state that I am aware of) that has a band like this.
Every musician I spoke to about it said I was crazy & it wouldn’t work, but I knew if I transcribed & arranged the songs specifically for the band, I could get them sounding pretty good.
We got the band up & running during term 3 of 2016 & ever since then it’s been all systems go!
I have been completely blown away by how well received this band is by the school community, they get a raucous response every time they play & get such amazing engagement from the school kids singing & dancing along!
The kids are so keen to be in the band, they all come to school an hour early to rehearse, every one helps set up & pack up & there’s always smiles on their faces when they are performing. They also regularly tell me that band practise is their favourite time at school.
Check out the snippet below of them performing a couple of songs from their repertoire, I think you’ll agree we have got something special going on here!
If you would like more info about how the band program works or want to get a band like this at your school, get clickin’ over here
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