Wednesday, October 17, 2001
|
Wednesday, October 17, 2001 |
|
Band video impresses school board By MONROE
ROARK
The audience at Monday night's Board of Education meeting was treated to a special performance by the Whitewater Middle School band, even though the meeting room would never hold all the band members and their instruments. A new professionally produced video of the school's band program was presented to the board by band director Bill Melton, who said that it would be an invaluable tool for recruiting rising sixth-graders into the program, getting sponsorships from local businesses, and just showing the public the accomplishments of the program. Melton gave a great deal of credit to a band parent who he said has considerable expertise in video production and whose contacts and experience allowed them to complete a project that normally would have cost $10-20,000 for less than $500. The background music and sharp editing of the opening sequences backed up Melton's claims of professional production values. The footage included highlights from several band performances, such as a school football game, a performance at a middle school gathering at the University of Georgia, and a special trip to Orlando. Also included were interviews with selected band members and their parents. After the board commended Melton on the project, board member Janet Smola related a story that she said reflects the overall quality of the Whitewater program. She played a compact disc that Melton had given her as background music for a dinner party at her home, and when she asked the guests to identify the musicians, they guessed a number of widely known adult performance groups. "When I said that it was a group of 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds, they didn't believe me," she said. "I had to show them the CD."
|
||