NEN BLUEJAY BAND
The NEN band is directed by Ms. Sutton. She has led the music department since the fall of 2014, and started the NEN Marching Bluejays (again) in 2015. Since then, the Marching Bluejays have consistently improved in each competition they were in, and is a great representation of Northeast Nodaway.
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Also, in 2015, Ms. Sutton created the first color guard/winter guard at Northeast Nodaway. This squad has competed in two different competitions in the past four years and just recently earned a 2nd place trophy!
This year, the band runs off the motto: "One Band, One Sound." To us, this means that we are all one part of the larger puzzle. If one piece is missing, our puzzle is incomplete, and we look and sound much different. Each person has to pull their own weight, each person must know their own part and play it confidently. In a small school band, there are often times when there is only one person on a part, if that person is gone, so is that part. That absence completely changes the dynamics of the band.
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When we step up and take our own success into our hands, it makes us work much harder as a team in order to succeed. But, band is not all hard work and dedication; it's also a lot of fun. In band, we like to joke around, we like to be goofy, but most importantly, we can be ourselves and express ourselves through the performing arts. This is something that can be carried on with us through the rest of our lives!
Last, but not least, this is an article that Ms. Sutton wrote about the importance of music in today's society, titled:
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The Holy Trinity of Music
Today’s society is filled with hatred, disrespect, and negativity. Every time I turn the news station on, there’s always someone being kidnapped, schools with mass shootings, or someone on the far right side of the political spectrum hating on someone on the far left. It’s honestly depressing to think about, but this is exactly why music is needed in our lives!
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I recently read an article by Scott Lang about the holy trinity of music: balance, blend, and harmony. We teach this on a daily basis, but just stating it so simply, doesn’t seem like it would be that hard right?
As musicians, we have to blend our music with melody, harmony, and bass, as well as chords and harmonies. But we also have to blend students of different ages, different playing abilities, and different socioeconomic statuses. We have to blend great instruments with not so great instruments, and students who have only played for a year with others who have played for eight! If we want to go more in depth here, we have to balance high pitched instruments with low pitched instruments. Don’t forget that no instrument will have the same pitch tendency as the next, so that’s another check to add to the list! This also has to be done before we start adding harmonies, and don’t get me started on blending in on the marching field! It would be easier if all things were equal, but then by definition, it wouldn’t be balance, blend and harmony, it would just be the same! Music requires us to be different, to work together to overcome those differences and celebrates those differences.
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To strive for true balance, blend and harmony is by far, the most important lesson for our students to learn. Our society is broken; we don’t work together to balance or blend our differences, and we most definitely don’t celebrate them! Our students who are involved in music not only learn balance, blend and harmony within the ensembles, but how to relate that to real life experiences. They are learning to work together to achieve goals, and to be observant and flexible. They are learning how to lead our country to a better tomorrow, with love, and compassion: balance, blend and harmony!
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