District 93’s Summer Band wows crowd at Boomers Game

BLOOMINGDALE – Nearly 140 of Community Consolidated School District 93's Summer Band students wowed the crowd at the June 16 Schaumburg Boomers game with their rendition of the national anthem.

Every summer, D-93 holds summer band for all fifth- through eighth-grade students in its band program as well as some students in Queen Bee District 16’s band program.

Over the course of two four-day weeks, June 15-18 and June 22-25, students spent two to 2 1/2 hours rehearsing as a large group and breaking off to rehearse with like instrument sections such as woodwinds, brass or percussion. Some even practiced their craft with the jazz band.

“Summer Band provides our students with an opportunity to continue their instrumental learning process,” Band Director Sherri Steinke said. “They not only get to see their friends, the band students improve their playing skills in a very short time span. The progress is amazing and fast!”

Steinke, along with fellow Band Directors Amy Dandeles and Alice Brown, push the students to improve by taking on challenging pieces while teaching them to have fun. The balance of enjoyment and drive instilled in students in the band contributes to the program’s success and is a big reason why D-93 was named a 2014 Best Community for Music Education by the National Association of Music Merchants.

“The music is definitely a lot more challenging in Summer Band,” graduated eighth-grader Gianna Sabatino said. “You get a lot more broad experience with music.”

Sam Falco, who is entering eighth grade at D-93’s Jay Stream Middle School, found playing at the Boomers game to be the highlight of Summer Band this year and enjoyed the new perspective he gained from the experience.

“I thought it was pretty cool because you always see the people playing music on TV who are there and you never know what actually goes into playing at a sports event,’’ he said. “And so now that you know how everything goes, you can relate to it.”