Student bands need an outlet for expression.
ETHS has a tremendous amount of talent roaming the halls every day. From singers to bass players, these students are amazing artists on their own, but ETHS needs to support them.
E-Town Idol has provided an annual opportunity for artists of all types to perform. We need to add more events like this to our schedule.
We have a very active Fine Arts Dept. that conducts many choral and jazz concerts throughout the year. Still, talented students who do not want to commit to one of these extracurricular music groups can rarely, if ever, find opportunities to perform through the school.
Students work so hard and practice for hours on end to reach the peak of their performance ability. All of the time and effort that they put into their music should be rewarded.
Northwestern hosts a Battle of the Bands competition for their talented students. These bands compete for a winning spot as that year’s Dillo Day opener. ETHS needs to establish more events like this.
“Performing for your peers is very fun and it was great having a lot of support from my friends,” says Chris Miller, former Battle of the Bands winner. ETHS students deserve the same opportunity.
A “Back to School Jam” at the beginning of the year at which ETHS students could perform would be a great first step to supporting independent student bands. The difference between the “Back to School” event and Battle of the Bands would be the elimination of the competition aspect. Students could audition to perform and from that group the coordinators of the event could select the performers.
A “Back to School Jam” for ETHS students would be a great way for the community to come together and support our youth. This event could also turn into a fund-raiser for ETHS with an inexpensive five-dollar admission charge. It’s also a perfect way to boost morale at the beginning of the school year.
We would need students and faculty to form a committee that could determine the date and location of the event, as well as who the performers would be or how to select them. It may sound like a lot of work, but the result would more than worth it. Seeing our community come together for this one day would have a strong impact on the attitude of students at the beginning of the school year.
The implementation of a “Back to School Jam” would be a positive start on the road to fully supporting our student artists.