Band Narratives for Reading Enjoyment Thursday, August 24, 2023
recommended by Ken T., Band Education Specialist
American Band by Kristen Laine
Every fall, marching bands take to the field in a uniquely American ritual. From the stands, it looks easy. You don’t see them sweat.
For millions of kids, band is more than a show. It’s a rite of passage – a first foray into leadership and adult responsibility, and a chance to learn what it means to be part of a community. Nowhere is band more serious than at Concord High School in Elkhart, Indiana, where the entire town is involved with the success of its defending state champion band, the Marching Minutemen.
In the place where this tradition may have originated, in the city that became the band instrument capital of the world, band is a religion. But it’s not the only religion, as director Max Jones discovers. After four decades. Jones’s single-minded devotion to musical excellence has fallen out of step with a younger generation increasingly focused on personal salvation. In what his students do not know is his final season of directing, he has assembled his most ambitious show ever, for the strongest senior class he has ever directed. Amid conflicting notions of greatness, the band marches through a season that starts in hope and promise, progresses through uncertainty and disappointment, and ends, ultimately, in redemption.
American Band is an unusually intimate chronicle of life, in all its triumph, disappointment, and drama, in the kind of community in which most of America lives. It is an especially timely portrait, capturing as it does the spirit of the heartland at a time of profound change. If you have ever been – or yearned to be – part of something bigger than yourself, you will be rooting for the kids whose voices fill this book.
On the Path to Excellence by William Carson
From its humble beginnings in 1956, to triumphant concerts in Europe and at the Midwest Clinic, the Northshore Concert Band has led an existence full of twists and turns, adversity and tenacity. How did this group of eleven American Legion musicians evolve into one of the most influential adult bands in history? Follow the story of John Paynter, Barbara Buehlman, and other important musicians as they guide the Northshore Concert Band on the path to excellence.
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About the Author:
A former band director, Ken taught grades 5-12 band and music appreciation in both public and parochial schools in Central Ohio, and has been at Stanton’s since 2004. His iPod ranges from jazz and funk to classic and alternative rock, and symphonies. His interests include reading, history, traditional amusement parks, outdoor activities (especially hiking), and watching hockey.