The Lassiter High School Marching Trojan Band was named Champions of the 2009 Bands of America Northeastern Regional Championship on Saturday, October 24! Twenty-eight award-winning bands from seven states competed in the championships at West Chester University, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Bands entered into the competition were from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia. In addition to winning the regional overall championship, the Lassiter Band won Class AAA, winning awards in Best Music and Best General Effect.

The Lassiter competition show was entitled, “Candide,” with music excerpts from the Broadway Musical composed by Leonard Bernstein. Musical selections included: the Overture to Candide, Make Our Garden Grow, and Candide Suite (Westphalia). This year’s Trojan Band numbers 250 members making it the largest high school marching band in the Metro Atlanta area and the largest band in this particular competition. This win represents the ninth victory in the last eleven multi-state regional championships between the years of 1995 and 2009. These multi-state regional championships were in Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania. On the following day, Sunday, October 25, the band spent the day touring the National Mall in Washington, DC, visiting all of the sights of the National Capitol. It was a wonderful weekend.

The Lassiter Marching Band is a two-time NATIONAL CHAMPION, winning national championships in 1998 and again in 2002. The band has marched in the 1999 and 2004 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and in the 1988, 2001 and 2005 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. In November of 2010, the Trojan Band has once again been invited to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Director of Bands at Lassiter is Alfred L. Watkins, assisted by Laura Borchert and James Thompson.

The Wheeler “Wildcat Pride” Marching Band applied for and was issued an invitation to perform at the 2010 Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington, D.C. on April 10th. It is a very prestigious honor, with usually only one group being chosen to represent its home state. This is also a precursor toward applying for an invite to the either the Macy’s Day Parade or The Rose Bowl Parade in 2011.

Wind ensembles from three Cobb schools have been selected as winners in the Mark of Excellence National Wind Band Honors Project.

The Harrison High School Wind Ensemble, directed by David Vandewalker, is a national winner.

The Dickerson Middle School Symphonic Band, directed by John Palmer, is a commended winner.

The Pope High School Symphonic Band is a state level winner.

These honors are part of the Mark of Excellence national competition, entered by recordings, in which the top 25 percent are selected as national winners and the second quarter as commended honors. These three schools are among 155 nominated musical ensembles nationwide.

Gary Markham, the District’s music supervisor, is the first recipient of the ‘Excellence in Marching Music Education’ award from the Music Educator’s National Conference and Drum Corps International! The two organizations created the joint award to recognize people who have made a significant contribution to marching music education. Gary was presented with the award this summer at a ceremony in Washington, DC.

The award will be presented twice a year – once during music Education Week in Washington, DC and again at the Drum Corps International Championships in Indianapolis, IN.

Congratulations to Alyse Zwick, 2004 graduate of the Cobb County Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts at Pebblebrook High School, who recently won the Miss New York pageant in Albany, NY. Ms. Zwick currently lives in Scarsdale, NY, and attends the City University of New York. Alyse will go on to participate in the Miss America Pageant to be held in Las Vegas in January.

The Walton High School Marching Raider Band has been selected to appear in the 121^st Annual Tournament of Roses Parade, themed 2010: A Cut Above the Rest. This marks yet another milestone in the history of one of the finest high school band programs in Georgia.

Each New Year’s Day, the world focuses its attention on Pasadena, California, home of the Rose Parade. It’s a celebration more than a century old – a festival of flowers, music and pageantry unequaled anywhere in the world. Under the direction of Mike Back and Associate Director Jeff Pollock, the band will play continuously for the two hours it takes to march the 5½ mile parade route down Colorado Boulevard. The band will perform in front of a live audience of more than 1 million people. The parade will be broadcast live to a television audience of 40 million domestic viewers plus an additional 350 million viewers in over 100 countries around the world.

The process for selection to the Rose Parade starts with an application submitted almost two years prior to the event. Each band must submit a “resume” of its achievements along with a video and recommendations from community and government leaders. Hundreds of bands apply each year and fewer than 25 are selected to appear based upon musical achievement, marching ability and showmanship. This is considered to be the “Granddaddy of them All” for marching bands.

It is a yearlong process to prepare the students physically, practice the music, plan the logistics and raise the funds necessary to transport almost 250 people, their instruments, equipment and uniforms across the country and back. A large planning committee has been formed to tackle the various tasks involved, from trip planning to fundraising to publicity to planning a visit by the President of the Tournament of Roses Parade to make the official invitation to the band.

More information about Walton High School and its band is available at www.waltonband.org

The Dickerson Middle School Band Program has been selected by the Georgia Music Educators Association to receive the 2009 GMEA Exemplary Performance Award! Dickerson is the first band to ever win the honor. The Exemplary Performance Award was established to recognize middle school bands that achieve outstanding results in all areas of performance, including Large Group Performance Evaluation, Solo and Ensemble, All-State Band, and District Honor Band.

The award is given to recognize the outstanding bands in Georgia whose students excel in all aspects of band performance, both individually and as part of a group. The selection process required the following documentation to be submitted with the application – CD of the Large Group Performance Evaluation Concert, Band Roster, a copy of the District Honor Band Program, a list of All-State participants, copies of Performance Evaluation Adjudicator sheets, and a list of Solo and Ensemble participants with their ratings.

Members of the Eastvalley Elementary Chorus earned their spots, as the group won Best Musical Performance at the National Broadway Junior Theater Festival for their ‘101 Dalmatians’ act. Eastvalley’s group were the youngest in the competition, facing middle and high school groups from across the US and Canada.

The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall announced Jan. 13 that the Pebblebrook High School Performing Arts Chamber Choir was selected to participate in its sixth annual National High School Choral Festival. Established in 2002, the Festival annually features choirs from across the nation, selected by audition, to come together and work with Dr. Craig Jessop, Music Department Head at Utah State University and former Music Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, extensively rehearsing a choral masterpiece in preparation for a performance in Carnegie Hall’s prestigious Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and professional soloists. At the concert, the Pebblebrook/CCCEPA Chamber Choir will also have the opportunity to perform repertoire under its own conductor, George Case.

More information is available on the Carnegie Hall Web site.

Nicholas Druzbanski, senior at the Pebblebrook High School Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts is one 140 high school seniors nationwide to participate in youngARTS week, according to an announcement by National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts.

As one of the 2009 winners––all of whom were blindly selected by panels of professional artists—Nicholas participated in a week of workshops, master classes, showcases, performances, exhibitions and personal mentoring Jan. 12-18 in Miami, Florida.

Nicholas Druzbanski lhas received many awards during his time at Pebblebrook, including Most Outstanding Overall Actor, Most Outstanding Drama Male, Most Outstanding Vocal Male and Model Drama Student. Last summer, Nick had the pleasure of directing his first play, 100; a student-run production. He also attended the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program for Theater. In recent years, he has portrayed Reverend Hale in The Crucible, Artie in The House of Blue Leaves, Archibald in The Secret Garden, Clarence in Richard III, Bun Foo in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast.