Amity Regional High School - Music Department

Music Department

At the beginning of the 2007-2008 year, Amity started its first competitive marching band known as the Amity High School Spartan Marching Band. Under the direction of Phil Dolan, Amity held its first competitive show in early October 2007. Its 2007 show contained music from the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl while its 2008 show contained music from the Cirque du Soleil show La Nouba. The Amity Marching Band, while new to the competitive nature of marching band, often came close to in score of bands who have competed for decades. In addition, they won first place at both of their season's final competitions. In the 2009-2010 season, the Amity Marching Band went on hiatus, while a new staged performance called Music In Motion was put into a trial production. Two shows were held on October 23 and 24, 2009. This new stage production contained a variety of the Amity Band concepts including Marching, Jazz, Drumline, Colorguard and Dance. The show included music from The Phantom of the Opera, the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and the theme music from television show The Simpsons. In addition, several band members put together an imitation of the dance group Stomp, using push brooms and garbage pails to create a chorus of drum beats. As of 2010 following 2009's success, Music and Motion permanently replaced the marching band. For the 2010 show, Amity put on a performance including multiple numbers from the show which inspired the program, Blast! such as Malagueña, Boléro, and Gee, Officer Krupke! (from West Side Story). In addition, numbers such as Chameleon and Somewhere Over the Rainbow exclusively featured other sections such as colorguard and jazz band, respectively.

Other musical groups include the concert band, wind ensemble, strings and choir. They practice individually and perform together for holiday and spring concerts as well as a POPS concert, held annually since 1969.