Band teacher Philip Carter was urging the band to play louder. Just one crescendo and the piece would be over. With a wave of his baton, he let the last note linger in the auditorium and held his breath as what was a few seconds of silence felt like an hour. The audience began to cheer as the band members stood to take their bows. They had done it again. Another successful concert was now behind them.

Yet, after receiving many congratulatory handshakes, he still felt that he could have done more.

With one of the bigger band programs in the Fox Valley Conference, Carter is still setting his sights higher than the average band director.

It is not easy to raise the general playing level of almost 130 students, but Carter plans to do just that through a newly introduced band camp that will take place during the school year.

The band camp will take place at the high school and will run during band periods as well as after school and on the weekend. The camp will be run through a program called The Music Guerilla.

In order to help program more difficult repertoire, students will receive the opportunity to be a part of clinics taught by professional musicians such as Dr. Milt Allen, a former band director at Ohio State University and Eastern Illinois University.

“The goal in participating in something like this is to expose the students to something new,” Carter said. “He’s a very dynamic teacher that they will hopefully learn a lot from.”

Carter received the opportunity to work with Allen as a high school student, and knows that the experience will help students not only improve as players, but also get a better feel for the college band scene.

Though Allen will only be there for two days, students will still have plenty of time to get a second opinion.

Not only with the instrumentalists receive help, but the Color Guard will have the opportunity to practice more as well.

“I plan on participating in [the band camp] because I feel I could help everyone on [color guard] expand their skill sets before the new season starts,” senior Color Guard member Kayla Dillon said.

Along with the camp, the band will also participate in a few festivals this upcoming cycle to further their involvement. As for the parents of the music students, Carter will be preparing a presentation on why music is important.
“This next cycle will be busy,” Carter said. “As long as the [students] are taking away something from these activities then we’re moving in the right direction.”