Band an oasis for some middle-schoolers
It was the first truly warm Saturday of the year, and people
throughout San Benito County were enjoying the weather in a variety
of ways
– biking, gardening, playing ball, running through
sprinklers.
Elizabeth Dominguez, however, chose to spend her Saturday in a
different way.
Band an oasis for some middle-schoolers
It was the first truly warm Saturday of the year, and people throughout San Benito County were enjoying the weather in a variety of ways – biking, gardening, playing ball, running through sprinklers.
Elizabeth Dominguez, however, chose to spend her Saturday in a different way. For three hours, she marched in the warm May sun, practicing her forms while playing flute for the Rancho/Maze Competition/Concert Band. And while it was definitely hard work, for Dominguez, there was no other place she wanted to be.
“I’ve wanted to play the flute for a really long time,” said Dominguez, 12. “My sister was in the band, and she started teaching me. It was fun, so I joined, too. It’s cool, and it gives me something to do.”
Dominguez, a seventh-grader at Rancho San Justo Middle School, has played the flute for four years, and for the past two years she has been a member of the competition/concert band. The middle school program has thrived, and under the direction of Joe Ostenson, it has also become a place students can come and be themselves, work hard towards achieving a goal and feel safe while doing it.
“It [joining the band] seemed like a good way to get out and not be just sitting around at home all day,” said eighth-grader Andres Rodriguez, 14, a drum major with the band who also plays the trombone. “Now, I stay busy. I’m not getting into trouble hanging out on the street.”
There are approximately 150 students in the music program, which includes students from Rancho as well as Marguerite Maze Middle School. About 60-70 of those students participate in the concert/competition band, which performs in an annual local music festival in addition to three or four competitions each year.
The students practice daily in music class, and hold additional practices for competitions during the week and on Saturdays. Joining the concert/competition band takes a certain dedication that not all students have, Ostenson said.
“It’s not for everybody,” Ostenson said. “Not everyone wants to give up their free time and come here to Rancho one Saturday a month. But for some of the kids, it becomes a very important thing. We started practicing in October, and for most of them, they have become better players than they were eight months ago.”
Although being a member of the band does require practice and dedication, seventh-grader Betty Cruz, a percussionist and captain of the color guard, says in the end, it is all worth it.
“It is hard work – sometimes I go to bed late because I’m still doing my homework, and then we have to get up early (for competitions),” Cruz, 12, said. “But it feels good. The competitions can be stressful, because you’re concentrating and thinking about what you have to do. But we come back a lot tanner. And the bus ride back is always fun.”
Two weekends ago, the band competed in Santa Clara County against other middle school marching bands. They finished second overall, scoring first in two categories, including the concert band, which scored into the 90s, Ostenson said. The band has two more competitions planned, one in Vallejo and a second in Alameda.
“It was pretty awesome,” Ostenson said, about the first competition. “The concert band scored a first, and when that happens, it usually means you are in the hunt. Overall, we scored as well as some high schools do.”
Although many schools in California have lost or reduced their music programs, locally, interest in music remains high, Ostenson said. And while some of the support comes from the community, in many cases, a love of music has been handed down through families. Both Dominguez and Cruz had sisters who were in the band before them; other students have parents who were taught by Ostenson years ago.
“The interesting thing is to watch some of these kids in the competitions who are priming their brothers and sisters to do this as well,” he said. “Why it’s like that, I don’t know. It becomes something that they want, and they want their brothers and sisters to want it as well. One of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had is knowing that parents who I taught thought that this was important enough that they want their children to do it.”
While he says being a member of the band has been an enjoyable experience, Rodriguez will end his music career when he leaves Rancho in June so that he can concentrate on high school.
“It’s not that I don’t like it, but in high school I want to concentrate my time on classes that will help me with the colleges and universities I want to go to,” he said. “I don’t want to spend time on a fun class and then worry about missing credits.”
Cruz and Dominguez, however, say they hope to continue playing music as long as possible.
“I want to play for as long as I can because I feel like it’s the only thing I’m really good at,” Dominguez said. “At practice, if I have something to say, people actually consider my voice, my opinions, what I think. If I did that in science class, I don’t think they’d listen because I’m not that good at science.”
