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Four high school bands to present Saturday showcase

By Elizabeth Pannell

LITTLE ROCK — Drumsticks will be flying, tubas will be booming and cymbals will be clapping as four Saline County bands meet for the Saline County Band Showcase.

The showcase, featuring the bands from Harmony Grove, Benton, Bryant and Bauxite high schools, begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Bryant High School football field. Admission is $5.

Showcase organizer Chad Green said the showcase is intended to present to the community of Saline County the band programs of the area high schools.

“The event is intended to serve as an advocate for instrumental music education as well as a fundraising event for all involved band programs,”Green said.

Green, also the band director at Bryant High School, conceived the idea for the showcase a year ago. He said all the proceeds from the showcase will be divided evenly among the four bands.

“Every band program needs funding for music education materials, such as new printed music and equipment,” Green said.

The four bands will perform their half-time shows followed by their schools’ fight songs, alma mater and any other music that is original to their schools.

Bryant will present a show titled, “A Place to Connect,” featuring music by Gary Gilroy and Steve Vento.

Green said the feedback from the other three schools has all been positive.

“All the directors are on board with this idea and are excited about the impact this event can have on the support of their band programs,” Green said.

Bauxite Band Director Michelle Smith said her 63-member band will perform songs from several popular movies, including Indiana Jones, Superman and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End in their show titled, “Adventures.”

“I think the showcase is a great idea, because a lot of people don’t even know we have a band because we are a small school,” Smith said.

K ev in Taylor, Ha r mony Grove High School band director, said the showcase will “allow our students the opportunity to perform their competition marching show for this season in front of an audience before our actual competitions begin in late October.”

Taylor said the showcase will give their band parents and supporters an opportunity to see and hear the band perform locally, because many of their competitions are out of town.

“Our community benefits from this event from the pride that our community has in the Harmony Grove High School band and its tradition of excellence,” Taylor said. “Also this event benefits our program by a portion of the proceeds being given to our band which augments our budget and allows us increased monies to purchase needed supplies.”

The Harmony Grove band will perform their half-time show titled “The Great American Pastime.” The songs includes “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” “The R ainout,” “The Baseball Theme” from Charlie Brown and the “Big Game” from A League of Their Own.

“The Lion K ing” will be performed by Benton High School band, featuring songs, “Grasslands Chant,” “Be Prepared,” “The Battle Between Simba and Scar” and “The Circle of Life.”

Green said he would like to see the showcase become another large, annual event for Saline County.

“We could possibly have the location on rotation,” Green said. “It’s important for the communities to see what is going on in their school’s instrumental music programs since bands are one of the most visible organizations at each school.” - epannell@ arkansasonline.com

Tri-Lakes, Pages 124, 125 on 09/28/2008