Band Trip

“I believe music opens up the world.” said CAC’s band director, Emily Gaines, regarding the CAC Senior High Band’s trip to Saint Louis. The band has been planning and practicing for this trip, and is so excited that it is finally happening.

On this trip the band participated in Heritage Music Festival, a band competition that takes place all over the country, and also spent some quality time together experiencing many of the fun things that St. Louis has to offer.

The students in the band are thrilled to have had the chance to go on this trip. They went to the St. Louis Zoo, Six Flags, St. Louis Aquarium, and Gateway Arch! Senior Emily Esseny shared that “[she was] excited to go to 6 flags because it will be a great bonding experience, especially for our new members.” Sophomore Maddie Stafford shared a similar sentiment saying, “the part I’m most looking forward to is going to Six Flags and being able to ride a bunch of the rides there.” While the students eagerly anticipated going to Six Flags, Mrs. Gaines was very excited to experience the St. Louis dinner cruise, “it’s a 3 course meal on the St. Louis River boat, it’s supposed to be really cool!”

However, this trip was not all fun and games. While in St. Louis they competed against 50-60 other high school bands, choirs, and orchestras from all over the country, and even took a master class at Webster University. Mrs. Gaines shared a little more information on what the competition looked like saying “the festival [had] a bunch of different awards, and they’re based on how high we score in performance. We’ll perform 3 songs: March to Castle Rock, Black Forest Overture, and Music from How to Train your Dragon.”

This trip was not only a great learning experience for the mustang band, but also an opportunity to form closer relationships with their fellow band members.

“I’ve been working as a professional musician for about 8 years now. Because I’m a musician I’ve gotten to travel all over the country to perform, meet other people, and work with other musicians. It’s one of my favorite parts about my career. I believe going on trips like this in high school opens up more opportunities for students and shows them some of the possibilities.” -Mrs. Gaines.