Which High School Band is the Best? (Sacramento, Fairfield: school district, to live)

[cforput]

We are looking to relocate to the Folsom / El Dorado Hills / Shingle Springs area and one of our kids plays the trombone so we are wondering which High School(s) have a good band reputation. How are music programs in California? We are coming in from Nashville.

[NinaN]

I have only been to a couple high school football games here but you won't find the emphasis on football or bands that you have there. We're from Texas and it was a bit of a culture shock to go to the first game of the season and the bands didn't march at half time (Oak Ridge at Vista del Lago in Folsom). In fact, the Vista band only had a few members there (maybe 15) and the Oak Ridge band didn't even go to the game. They do march but not so early in the season because they don't know the routines yet.

My suggestion is to call the schools and ask them how many marching band members they have. That should give you a good idea.

Also, there are various music/band programs that aren't related to the marching bands, you should ask about them too.

El Dorado Union High School District - Check Ponderosa and Oak Ridge which covers most of EDH and Cameron Park/Shingle Springs.

Folsom Cordova Unified School District / Homepage - check Folsom High and Vista del Lago for the Folsom area.

Good luck with your move.

[marland]

The best band/music program in the region is at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento.

The Rio Americano band program is nationally recognized, having 3 levels of concert band and 4 levels of jazz ensemble. The AM Jazz Ensemble has been recognized as one the United States' top 15 high school jazz bands at the Essentially Ellington Jazz competition in New York City in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2010 and most recently in 2012. The ensemble has also won the Monterey Jazz Festival in the High School Big Band category an unprecedented 7 times, and most recently finished third in 2011. They have also won the Reno Jazz festival in their division and/or in the sweepstakes every year since 1993, except for 2006. They have toured Japan, Europe, China, Australia, New Zealand, and most recently Argentina and Uruguay. They plan to visit Spain in the summer of 2012. The program is under the direction of Mr. Josh Murray and Mr. Max Kiesner. From 1982-2007 Mr. Craig Faniani was director and shaped the music program at Rio Americano to what it is today. Mr. F. has accepted a new position at the district office (2007–present)as the Coordinator for the Visual and Performing Arts for the San Juan Unified School District.

Rio Americano High School - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Home | Rio Americano Band Program

Rio Americano Jazz Ensemble To Perform in NYC - Fair Oaks-Carmichael, CA Patch

Rio Americano musicians selected in national competition | Valley Community Newspapers, Inc.

Rio Americano High School AM Jazz Band on Vimeo

After that the next strongest program is at Folsom High.

[cforput]

Wow, Rio Americano sounds like a great place unfortunately, we are looking to live a little further out of the city but very impressive. I'll look at the links from NinaN. Who usually comes in second place? It looks like Rio Americano sweeps the competitions.

[shelato]

Folsom High School has a pretty well regarded jazz program as well.

[Think About It!]

Originally Posted by cforput

Wow, Rio Americano sounds like a great place unfortunately, we are looking to live a little further out of the city but very impressive. I'll look at the links from NinaN. Who usually comes in second place? It looks like Rio Americano sweeps the competitions.

Take a look at Gold River which the high school students attend Rio Americano. Gold River is east of Sunrise and north of Hwy 50. It has very good schools and is a nice community. It's one exit from Folsom and has a similar feel.

[justducky2]

Ponderosa High School Band and Guard in Shingle Springs is a very winning marching band for field competition during the fall, and it concentrates on its jazz, concert, and symphonic bands in the spring. The kids are great, the band director is terrific, and the coaches are very dedicated, and the parent boosters are strong (can you tell I'm a PHS Band Mom???!).

Union Mine High School has grown by leaps and bounds with its Director, and the band is now bigger than Ponderosa, and they place very well at competitions as well.

PHS and UM both serve Shingle Springs; generally, south of the freeway is UM, north of the freeway is PHS (but check!!).

El Dorado High School and Oakridge High School bands forego field show competition, and instead do parade competition during the spring, I'm told.

All the El Dorado County bands come together at the Placerville Christmas Parade en mass, marching as one unit, on the first Sunday in December (coming up soon!).

I just watched Folsom's field show the other night as many of our local high school bands were performing at "Champs" in Fairfield. Folsom is also awesome.

In the Sacramento general area, the winning bands are Granite Bay (massively sized and well-funded), Del Oro, Bella Vista, and Whitney.

My kid just finished her fourth year with Ponderosa's Band & Guard and it was a great experience. I'd also recommend Union Mine or Folsom.

Good luck and hope your trombonist has fun!

[justducky2]

Originally Posted by NinaN

I have only been to a couple high school football games here but you won't find the emphasis on football or bands that you have there. We're from Texas and it was a bit of a culture shock to go to the first game of the season and the bands didn't march at half time (Oak Ridge at Vista del Lago in Folsom). In fact, the Vista band only had a few members there (maybe 15) and the Oak Ridge band didn't even go to the game. They do march but not so early in the season because they don't know the routines yet.

My suggestion is to call the schools and ask them how many marching band members they have. That should give you a good idea.

Also, there are various music/band programs that aren't related to the marching bands, you should ask about them too.

El Dorado Union High School District - Check Ponderosa and Oak Ridge which covers most of EDH and Cameron Park/Shingle Springs.

Folsom Cordova Unified School District / Homepage - check Folsom High and Vista del Lago for the Folsom area.

Good luck with your move.

It really depends on the school. While the audience at football games here may not appreciate the bands much, the field show competition bands put in many Fridays and Saturdays practicing (on top of daily class and sectionals after school during the week) and have most of their field show routine down by the first football game. They are competing at field shows with other bands, that the general public doesn't know about. Oakridge, I know, doesn't do competitive field shows and so that may be why they don't put emphasis on their field show.

[justducky2]

Here is
Ponderosa and again here, at the end of a football game in the
stands . We are a AAA division band, but generally are competing against the AAAA and AAAAA bands in finals that are double our size!

Here is
Union Mine

Here is
Folsom

Enjoy! Some great shows this year!!

[justducky2]

Originally Posted by cforput

Wow, Rio Americano sounds like a great place unfortunately, we are looking to live a little further out of the city but very impressive. I'll look at the links from NinaN. Who usually comes in second place? It looks like Rio Americano sweeps the competitions.

HA! I've never seen Rio Americano at field show competitions, but maybe they either don't focus on field shows because they are busy doing other things, or they go to different competitions.

It's Granite Bay that sweeps the competitions in the Sacramento area. Del Oro I'd say is next, they always have elaborate sets that they pull onto the field.