High School Marching Bands (Phoenix, Glendale: how much, new home, school district)

[smart tart]

I will, at some point, when and if my house here in Louisiana ever sells, be moving to Arizona (have an offer now but the financing may be iffy .)

Anyhow - I will be moving with my 14 year old granddaughter (who has always lived with me). She has been active in the band for the past 3 years and loves it! She enjoys school and does well but band is very important to her. She will be starting high school this year - so with a new home, new town, and new school I am hoping that I can make the transition as painless as possible. (Or at least less painful)

The areas I am considering are Peoria, Surprise, Gilbert or Glendale. My budget for a house is ~ $300K. I have been looking on-line and believe I will be able to find a house in a nice community for this price. I may look for a part time job after we get settled but at this time my priority is the neighborhhod, school, and the band.

I have already checked out the schools in the above areas and find most to be very good - but it has been almost impossible to get any ideas of the bands - either their web sites are lacking, the band directors all claim their bands are the best (and I wouldn't expect that they would say any less!).

Many of the schools are so new in many places or rather difficult to get opinions so I was hoping that someone that reads on here would perhaps have an opinion. Which high school has the best, most active band - in your opinion or comments/discussions you might have heard?

I will not choose an area based soley on a high school band but if it is a toss up on areas then schools and their band will help me make a more informed decision (and may make my life just a bit better and that of a 14 year old!)

Thanks for any and all opinions.

[crewbank]

I used to be a band director of a state champion marching band, and my good friend is the director of another band with very high accolades, and both are in the east valley. Things have probably changed since I left that world in 2004, but I know Gilbert still has a good reputation in band, especially at Gilbert and Mesquite high schools. They can be a little snooty out there, but generally decent people.

Don't know much about the west side, but until very recently there wasn't much going on out there in the fine arts. Have a good move!

[HollyhockGarden]

Hello --
My daughter was in the Cactus High School Marching Band and really enjoyed it. She was in the choir, too. The band had a very active Band Boosters Club where the parents/grandparents could get to know each other. The band demands a lot of time: band camp starts about two weeks before school does and is held early in the morning before it gets too hot. Friday nights are a given as high school football games are played on Friday nights out here, not on Saturday afternoons like elsewhere in the country. It is a busy, but fun, time for the student. Cactus High School is one of the smaller schools in the Peoria Unified School District and is actually located in Glendale, not Peoria. It is located in zip code 85306, in case you want to do a home search by zip code. Good luck!

[smart tart]

Thanks for the replies - Yep band here also requires lots of time - we also do a band camp - 100 degree with 100%+ humidity - and the kids work their butts off! We have very similiar weather to Phoenix except maybe not quite so high but the humidity brings us up there! (And maybe even over!) Anyhow our band here also marches in lots of parades - beginning in september and going thru Mardi Gras - in addition to football games on Friday nights. There are only a couple of competitions they have participated in but our band went thru a 'reorganization' a couple years ago so they are growing and getting better with time.

Our kids have both Grambling and Southern bands as their 'idols' - and if you know anything about Southern Louisiana, these 2 schools have awesome bands - and have a big battle (along with the football game) every fall in New Orleans with 'standing room only'.

Does the school systems there support 'extra curricular activities' such as band? Or is it mostly the parents and fund raising activities?

Thanks again for the information.

[Great Joy]

I highly recommend Peoria School District for band because Peoria has many excellent band teachers, especially our band director at Vistancia Elementary and Liberty High School. We love her. Everyone here raves about her. She truly is amazing with the kids, making them sound like true professionals even at the end of their first year. Our son has had 3 yrs with her, and you should hear him as well as his band...wow! It's like going to a high dollar ticket concert. We had the opportunity to listen to multiple bands from multiple schools recently, and we were delightfully surprised at how much better our school's band sounded than the others. We didn't realize there could be that much of a difference between school band programs. Our son plans to try out for one of the Peoria honor bands next year, and I know the competition is tough because there are many great band students here. Our zip is 85383. Best wishes!

[crewbank]

An interesting side note about Arizona marching bands...very few use the traditional marching style famous in bands like Grambling and Southern (I ALWAYS watch the classic, by the way!). Virtually all schools here have switched to the "drum corps" smooth style of marching rather than the high-stepping. Too bad, I think. I think the southern bands have a lot more fun with the music. Anyway, thought I should prepare you...it's quite a different style than what your daughter is probably currently doing.

[Tango23]

Originally Posted by crewbank

An interesting side note about Arizona marching bands...very few use the traditional marching style famous in bands like Grambling and Southern (I ALWAYS watch the classic, by the way!). Virtually all schools here have switched to the "drum corps" smooth style of marching rather than the high-stepping. Too bad, I think. I think the southern bands have a lot more fun with the music. Anyway, thought I should prepare you...it's quite a different style than what your daughter is probably currently doing.

Agree on the non-southern style "drum corps" approach. Although I prefer the corps style, I will echo the point that it is not the same as what you may be used to seeing in the south.

That being said, you may consider looking into Arizona Academy of the Performing Arts It is a growing organization that offers multiple opportunities. I can also tell you that their director is very connected in the Phoenix area and quite familer with the local HS band scene. While he wont dish something negative on a band he is not impressed with, he should tell you what bands he thinks highly of.

FWIW, I am not connected to Academy in any way.

Feel free to PM with questions.