On Friday, April 1st, our 5th, 6th, and 7th-grade bands hosted the First Annual Pep Band Rally! For almost all of the 230-plus young musicians performing, this was their first live, in-person instrumental music performance EVER!! And for the Carrigan instrumentalists, it was the first time they had ever assembled a full band!
The schedule for the day allowed Bailey’s 7th Grade Band to debut their Spring Concert repertoire and perform it for the 5th and 6th-grade bands. After their performance, and a brief recruitment video/pitch primarily geared towards our 6th graders, all three bands performed together to record some short ‘pep band’ style tunes.
Many districts lost/shut down their music programs during the pandemic, but in West Haven, we thrived in keeping fine arts in our schools by providing the state/CDC recommended musician PPE, allowing the bands to implement the suggested safety protocols, and continued instrumental music instruction safely with minimal disruption.