by Wesley Wright
Lakeland Prep Orchestra Booster Club President
Fall has been an exciting season for the Lakeland Preparatory School Band program. The marching band, which is made up of 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students at LPS has soared to new heights with their field show “Dark Wings: Dark Omens.” They have demonstrated the first two parts of the field show at several competitions and under the Friday night lights of an LPS High School football game.
In competition, the high school marching band has received incredible accolades, especially considering that there are currently only 8th-10th grade students in the group. Here are just a few of the results:
South Gibson County Invitational
LP Division results:
First place percussion
Third place guard
Second place band
Fourth place overall among all divisions!
Arlington Open Invitational
LP Results:
Gold Division Champions!
1st place band
2nd place percussion
2nd place guard
3rd Overall
Collierville Tournament of Champions
LP Results:
2nd Place Overall Division A
2nd place Color Guard
1st Percussion Division A
Best Music Performance Division A
Along with the success of the marching band, the high school concert band will be presenting their fall concert on October 5th at 7:00pm in the auditorium. This will be the first concert in school history in which the high school performs separately from the middle school!
The middle school band performed a tremendous fall concert on October 3rd! This was the first performance for the beginning band, featuring eighty-one musicians (a new school record). During the concert, the beginner musicians demonstrated everything they have learned in the first nine weeks (posture, music reading, sizzling, and several recognizable songs).
The LPS Middle School Percussion Ensemble performed the piece “The Final Boss.” This high energy piece left the audience full of excitement, as if they were facing a final boss in a video game.
The middle school concert band, featuring students in 7th and 8th grade, performed two pieces, “Fragile” by Randall Standridge and “Journey of the Bonfire” by William Owens. The students performed these pieces with exceptional attention to detail, especially considering that all of the music was learned in the first nine weeks of the school year. Mr. Hopper stated that “Fragile” was written to bring awareness and attention to mental health issues. Through music, the band hopes to bring people back together, piece by broken piece.
The middle school and high school band will be performing together at the high school homecoming football game on Friday, October 6th.
Thank you all for your support of the LPS Bands. If you are interested in becoming a band sponsor, please reach out to: lpbandboosters@gmail.com
