Offered to students in grades 5-12, St. David's bands train and equip instrumentalists at every level. This is accomplished with group instrumental lessons, chamber group involvement and performance. Each band performs twice a year at the full instrumental concerts as well as many various solo and small ensemble opportunities in the school community, including "Lessons and Carols," "Celebration of the Arts," and the annual Veterans Day ceremony. Students in the band program perform in the following ensembles and events:
Beginning Band: This fun and exciting, yet challenging class, introduces 5th grade and novice 6th grade students to the world of band by teaching them the fundamentals of being in an instrumental ensemble. They are ready to perform in just three months at the annual Christmas band concert.
Intermediate Band: This band for 6th grade students builds on what the musicians learned in Beginning Band and challenges more individual improvement within a balanced ensemble. Emphasis is placed on musicality, intonation, technical achievement and superior listening skills.
Concert Band: These 7th and 8th grade students, in their third and fourth years of playing, are achieving a full tone, solid technique, and improving intonation while playing more challenging literature. This is the flagship instrumental ensemble of the Middle School and will prepare the students for successful entrance into the Wind Ensemble.
Wind Ensemble: The highest standards of performing are stressed in this ensemble. Concert marches, staple band literature by distinguished composers, and film scores are all part of the normal diet for the Wind Ensemble member. A festival-competition trip is taken each spring for the group to be adjudicated. Rather than following the masses approach of mainly focusing on technical wizardry, this ensemble blazes a new trail by believing that musical expression and artistry are the highest goals.
AP Music Theory: Offered to students in grades 10-12, this rigorous course studies the principles of 18th century part writing. AP Music Theory is a course that focuses on the essential elements of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, form and to some extent history and style.