Band
The band program is nationally recognized having had groups within it invited to perform for a variety of national and state-wide events. Most notably are the invitations extended by Percussive Arts Society to the Percussion Ensemble, to perform at their international convention in 2007, the invitation extended to the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band to perform at Carnegie Hall in 2010, and their performance in An Oak Mountain Christmas with guest singer, Carie Tillis, at the historic Alabama Theater in 2010 and 2011.
From mainstream to swing, the Oak Mountain Jazz Band demonstrates a more laid back aspect of the music program. Performances by the Jazz Ensemble are celebrations of music for the audience as well as the musician. Membership in the Jazz Band is strictly by audition and requires extra rehearsal time for its members. In addition to the normal complement of instrumentation, Oak Mountain also makes use of vocal talent from within the band.
Nationally recognized, the Oak Mountain Percussion Ensemble represents percussionship at its finest. Members utilize all aspects of the percussive experience, often playing instruments in ways not typically thought. While utilizing an assortment of traditional percussive instruments, the ensemble is able to give voice to something as utilitarian as a plastic bucket.
The Oak Mountain “Spirit of Cahaba” Marching Band performs at all of the high school’s football games as well as marching contests throughout the fall. The marching band consistently garners superior ratings and captures many of the best in class and best overall awards. Rehearsals in the marching band begin in mid-July and continue throughout the fall. Some units within the band actually begin rehearsals for the fall season during the spring.
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Famous quotes containing the word band:
“Firm, united, let us be,
Rallying round our Liberty;
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.”
—Joseph Hopkinson (1770–1842)
“Nothing makes a man feel older than to hear a band coming up the street and not to have the impulse to rush downstairs and out on to the sidewalk.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one’s heroic ancestors. It’s astounding to me, for example, that so many people really seem to believe that the country was founded by a band of heroes who wanted to be free. That happens not to be true. What happened was that some people left Europe because they couldn’t stay there any longer and had to go someplace else to make it. They were hungry, they were poor, they were convicts.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)