Sandy Creek Central School District

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Musical Memories

By Nathaniel Phillips on June 6th, 2022

After a long two years of Covid-19 restrictions, planning and cancellations, the music program here at Sandy Creek is finally back into full swing. This spring, students worked hard in band and chorus to give it their all and prove that music isnt just for us, but for the rest of our school, county, and state as well.
Over the course of this year, chorus students have attended many events, some for the last time in a long career of participation and others for the first time ever, hoping to continue throughout their upcoming years as well. These events were hard to get into and required hours upon hours of practice inside and outside of school. These kids worked tirelessly to get into events such as Conference All-State, Area All-State, and All-County. Kids all over the state and county work hard to get into these events and are compared to everyone else that tries out. People fight tooth and nail in order to make it in and we had students make it into all three this year, Conference All-State being the highest level to make it into on a state level. But to get there, the student must first perform a solo in front of a judge and receive an exceptional score out of 100 against themselves. This event is known as NYSSMA Solo-Festival. Each student must pick out a song to practice and memorize to perform for the judge. Students who participate in this event work tirelessly to achieve the highest score possible. Several students from Sandy Creek middle and high school participated this year and will be awaiting to see if they were extended invitations to those events. Band students also participated in these events and we had two students from this program make it. This year is the first year since 2020 that our school has been able to have our Spring Concerts and the students were ecstatic about it. To finally show the fruits of their labors to their friends and family made the wait and hard work and dedication worth it. These events have so much heart and soul pushed into them and its great to see them come back.
With the arrival of summer means parades and with the parades beginning comes Marching Band. Students in marching band work hard to memorize the music, step in time, and just have fun at every parade. This is a laborious task and while it is a lot of work, the students think it is worth it, and these students always have the time of their lives. The Marching Band and Color Guard go on a trip every summer that they spend countless hours fundraising for throughout the year. This summer, they finally get to go again and the countdowns have already begun for this upcoming adventure. Again, for some, this will be their last, their first, or both, but all are excited to participate and get to have fun one last time before the seniors head off to their futures.
For some, chorus and band are just free 100s for the grade book, but for many more, these programs are family. Most of the students who are in band and chorus are there because they love it, they are there because they want to put the time and effort in, and they are there because they are extremely passionate about their craft. Our directors invigorate and encourage our passion and hard work, they make us better people, and they are family to these students. These directors can be there for a shoulder to cry on or just a place to escape the chaos of the day. They always expect the best from you, but they are never disappointed if you fail because they know that you gave it your all. They see their students not as numbers but as people. And that is why the music program here at Sandy Creek is so important. To the students, these places are home, they are safe places to be themselves, and the other members are not just friends but family. Without these programs, the student body would be a lot less happy and there would be a lot less comradery between the grade levels. Which is why everyone is thrilled to finally be back. Lets hope it stays that way for the rest of the schools long, long life.
So, finally, a big thank you to our band and chorus directors Mr. Artini and Miss Machuga respectively. The two of you mean the world to your students.

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