Summer Band Instruction Will March Forward in Ohio County Schools | News, Sports, Jobs

Middle school band directors in Ohio County Schools don’t want students to miss a beat due to an instruction year when COVID played the dominant tune.

The band directors are striking up a middle school band program this summer for rising seventh and eighth grade band members. The program is set to take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 26-30 at the J.B. Chambers Performing Arts Center at Wheeling Park High School.

“There are more instruments and things going on within a band than there are in other music groups,” explained WPHS Band Director David Alfred. “This is an attempt to get the band members playing, get them some focus and maybe make up for what we missed due to COVID absences.”

The program will be free to students, and registration information will be coming soon.

While band directors have provided some instruction on their own at individual schools, this is the first county-wide summer middle school band program to be scheduled in 25 years, according to Alfred.

“The last one I did was at Triadelphia Middle School back in 1996,” he said. He expects 50 to 100 students to attend.

Alfred said the band directors are providing the program on their own time, and they aren’t asking to be paid.

“It’s the right thing to do because it’s a necessary thing,” he said.

During the sessions the band members will practice together as a whole, and also will break out into sections for rehearsal, Alfred explained. Guest musicians will offer clinics and play for the students at lunch time.

Some high school students also will be “lending a musical hand” during the program, though high school band members are set to do their own summer sessions for two weeks in August, he said.

“It’s always good to show what’s next,” Alfred said. “We haven’t been able to do that with COVID. In a sense we have, because I’ve produced three or four extensive videos for students, and I’ve shown performances from the past.

“But learning is socialized. The kids learn things from being in groups, and seeing and witnessing other groups.”

For more than a year, that chain has been broken, according to Alfred.

“We have to go in now and show all the good things we are doing and not assume somebody might have the chance to see them elsewhere,” he said.