Grand Island’s instrumental band department supports a performance-based music education with instruction offered to students as early as the 4th grade. Starting with Mr. Poissant at Huth Road or Mr. Robertson at Kaegebein, students are taught the basic fundamentals of tone production, articulation, and music reading skills. These skills are then refined and expanded upon by our middle school staff, Dr. Hughes (6th grade) and Mrs. Russo (7th & 8th grade). Students at the high school level, under the direction of Mr. Reed, are then challenged to play at a high level of musicianship while performing NYSSMA Level V (concert band) and Level VI (wind ensemble) repertoire.
Students are offered small group lesson instruction once a week with full-band schedules varying between the elementary (twice a week), middle (every other day), and high school (every day as a class).
Beyond the once-a-week small group lesson instruction, students are offered a wide variety of both curricular and extra curricular performance opportunities.
Elementary School
- Beginning Band
- Concert Band
- Jazz Ensemble
- Small Chamber Ensembles
Middle School
- Concert Band
- Jazz Ensemble
- Chamber Ensembles
High School
- Concert Band
- Wind Ensemble
- Jazz Ensemble
- Chamber Ensembles
- Improvisation Class
- Pit Orchestra
Apart from curricular ensembles, students have the option of auditioning for a number of honor bands and orchestras including the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra, ECMEA All-County, NYSSMA Area All-State, NYSSMA Conference All-State, and the NAfME All-Eastern festivals.
