Beavercreek Band

The Beavercreek Band (also known as 'BHS Instrumental Music Department') is one of three groups constituting the Music Department of Beavercreek High School, located in Beavercreek, Ohio. In addition to the band, there are the Drill Team and Choir. The Beavercreek Band comprises four concert band ensembles, two jazz performance ensembles, one pep band, one marching band, one Color Guard team, one Winter Guard team, and one Winter Percussion ensemble. The Beavercreek Band involves roughly 300 or more students on a yearly basis in one or more of these activities. Matt Frost is the director of bands. The band's homepage is beavercreekband.org
The Beavercreek Band has earned the highest rating at the Marching Band State Finals for 26 consecutive years, making it one of OMEA's longest-standing "Superior"-earning bands. Its Jazz Bands earned consistent top spots during the competitive 2009-2010 season. It has students qualify regularly for Honor Bands, such as the Ohio University Honor Band. The band also sponsors The Weekend of Jazz the first weekend of every March.
Marching Band
The marching band is the largest ensemble within the Beavercreek Band. With a membership averaging over 200 members, it qualifies for the highest class of band divisions for OMEA and Mid-States Band Association activities, the resident competition sponsors for its locality, and performs over twenty times annually. Since 1988, the marching band has played "pop/rock" styled shows. Their music is written by University of Miami Band Director Jay Rees. The band consists of a marching instrumental ensemble, a marching color guard, a marching drumline, and a stationary sideline/accessory section.
The band is organized under a hierarchy of directors. In 2010, the directors were as follows: Doug McCullough - Director; Matt Frost - Assistant Director; Michael Bisig - Assistant Director; and Rachelle Navarro - Color Guard Director.
In 2014, Jay Rees, a friend of Douglas McCullough, got a job as the head band director at the University of Miami and asked Douglas McCullough to be his Assistant Band Director. Douglas said yes which left the Band Director job open. Matt Frost, the former band director at Coy Middle School, got the new job as the full time band director at Beavercreek High School. Matt Frost and Michael Bisig would become co-directors of the Beavercreek Marching Band.
Band membership is open to any student who has the requisite grade and credit levels and is a member of one of the four concert bands. Color Guard membership is by audition only. The marching band does not utilize "alternates", a system which creates understudies for those typically marching on the field. Any student who is scholastically and physically able may march or play with the band. In the place of alternates, a philosophy of overall character is emphasized. The band relies on the idea that "Success is determined by: Discipline, Citizenship, Dedication, Focus, Unity", which has been imprinted in its pyramid-shaped visual form on the uniforms since 1999.
The band has qualified for the OMEA State Marching Band Finals since 1987. It has earned the highest rating, "Superior", every year since 1989. In addition, the band has won hundreds of awards in competition, many at competitions as prestigious as the Bands of America Championships and the Vanderbilt Marching Invitational.
Other Ensembles
In addition to its marching band, the Beavercreek Band offers scholastic and extracurricular ensembles. Each group has its own requirements, and all are led by Doug McCullough, with assistance from other parties.
Its concert bands—which are a requisite for more popular ensembles—are divided into four echelons: Varsity Band, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Wind Symphony. Auditions in the spring determine band placement in the fall. Though most freshmen enter the program through Varsity Band, there are no grade restrictions. Wind Symphony is the most elite ensemble, and it performs, in addition to standard concerts with the other ensembles, at community events. Concert bands play two songs per concert, with three concerts per year. The concert bands were organized with chairs (a listed ranking of playing quality) prior to 2007. Before 2010, auditions for band placement were submitted via cassette tape, but this changed with the hiring of two new assistant directors for the Middle Schools. In addition to switching to live auditions, 2010 brought about the reintroduction of chairs as well as the idea of a "section leader" for each instrumental section within the concert bands. How this relates to the marching band's idea of a "section leader" is not known.
Two Jazz Bands are divided into Jazz 1 and Jazz 2 and perform throughout the winter and spring. Auditions are live, with improvisation and playing skills measured. The instrumental arrangement of the bands changes year to year, but generally consists of five saxophones (two alto, two tenor, one baritone), five trumpets, five trombones, a piano, bass, guitar and drumset. A position for a tuba is sometimes considered. These bands perform at various concerts throughout the year (including some of the concert bands' concerts), college jazz contests, and the more prestigious Jazz 1 is the featured ensemble at each year's graduation. Beavercreek's jazz program is regarded as one of the best in the region, and it earns top awards and placements at the adjudicated events it goes to throughout the year. All Beavercreek Jazz ensembles also perform at the annual Weekend of Jazz celebration.
The Winter Guard group is a selection of students not necessarily otherwise involved with the band program. It is a color guard that is funded through the band program and performs at various competitions throughout the winter. They also perform at some winter concert band concerts. It incorporates dance technique, marching, and equipment handling all choreographed to music. Membership within the group is dictated by auditions, with emphasis placed on attitude, effort, and skill level.
The Pep Band is an ensemble open to any student who is a member of a concert band. There are no auditions and requirements for admittance are attendance of two mandatory practices and scholastic eligibility. The repertoire of songs is usually twenty-plus per season, and a major emphasis is placed on the ability to sight read effectively. This group performs at home basketball games for Beavercreek and does not compete. Members of this band are also invited to participate in the University of Dayton's Pep Band for certain games. Matt Frost and Doug McCullough are codirectors for this ensemble.
Hosted Events
Every November, the band hosts the Mid-States Band Association Championships. Because the Championships are so extensive, individual schools can host only specific classes of band, and Beavercreek hosts the AA rated bands. Though it is a marching band contest, and the marching band performs in exhibition at the end of the qualifying or championship rounds, students from the band program as a whole help in organizing the event.
In 2001, the band hosted the first Weekend of Jazz. The Weekend of Jazz is a three-day event held the first weekend of every March. Beginning as an event to celebrate the opening of the Beavercreek Alumni Auditorium, it has developed into an annual celebration of Jazz and what it can do for students' lives. Its motto ("Where the future of Jazz meets the Legends of Jazz!") explains the adopted purpose of the event: to introduce Beavercreek students to the most successful Jazz musicians in the world. Beavercreek is one of only two schools in the country to host an event of this type, and it is one of the largest events of the musical year. The event is hosted over three nights, beginning on Thursday. The Thursday performances are free and demonstrate the abilities of local, student-age ensembles who are then critiqued by the professionals appearing Friday and Saturday. College and high school jazz programs send bands, with the featured bands being the Ferguson Middle School and Ankeney Middle School Jazz Bands as well as the host-school's Jazz I and Jazz II. The Friday and Saturday night concerts include famous, world renowned musicians such as Meynard Ferguson and the Woody Herman Orchestra; ticket prices are engineered to cover costs, without profit. Clinics for students are held on Saturday during the day and are taught by one of the featured artists of that year's show. A list of professional bands to have performed at the Weekend of Jazz includes:

*2001
:Rob Parton’s JAZZTECH Big Band
:Count Basie Orchestra

*2002
:Sherrie Maricle and Diva
:Jon Faddis Quartet

*2003
:Jeff Hamilton Trio
:The Woody Herman Orchestra

*2004
:Doc Gibbs and Picante
:Royal Crown Revue

*2005
:John Fedchock NYSextet
:Spyro Gyra

*2006
:Don Vappie and the Creole Jazz Serenaders
: Maynard Ferguson and his Big Bop Nouveau Band

*2007
:The Stanley Clarke Band
:Rob Parton’s JAZZTECH Big Band

*2008
: Jeff Coffin Mu’Tet
:O’2L (cancelled due to snow storm)

*2009
:Sylvan Street
:The Woody Herman Orchestra
*2010
:Five Play
:Tito Puente, Jr. and his Orchestra
*2011
:Jon Secada
:The Duke Ellington Orchestra
*2012
:Sylvan Street
:The Buddy Rich Big Band (featuring Gregg Potter and Cathy Rich)
*2013
: Jeff Coffin Mu’Tet
:Ramsey Lewis
*2014
:Count Basie Orchestra
:Spyro Gyra

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