Madison Middle School’s Beginning Band & Concert Band performed for family and friends during the March 15 Spring Forward Concert inside a packed school gym. Band teacher Caitlynn Camacho commended the students and made a couple of announcements before moving on to the music.
“Thank you to the students for being awesome. You guys make my job the best job of all the jobs. So, thank you,” Camacho said. After the applause died, Camacho notified attendees of the final concerts of the semester, with Beginning Band, Concert Band, and Symphonic Band performing at Loma del Rey Park and Jazz Band playing at Madison Middle School in May.
Camacho announced a need for parents and students to join the booster club to help raise money for field trips, off-campus concerts, and instruments. “If we don’t have parents though, I can’t run the booster club myself as an APS employee, so if we don’t have parents to do that our booster club will go away.” Parents or students interested in helping with the booster club can email Camacho at Camacho_C@aps.edu or find her through ParentVUE.
Camacho said Albuquerque was named one of the best communities for music education since 2016/17. “So, we’re rocking out in the music education world in Albuquerque. Artists are very alive in APS, and we’re really proud of that.”
Concert Band started the performance with ‘Union March’ by Mekel Rogers, followed by ‘A Song for Friends’ by Larry Daehn and ‘Chorale & Mysitc Chant’ by Timothy Loest. Beginning Band played ‘Donut Factory’ by Heather Hoefle, ‘Dragon Dance’ by Michael Story, and ‘Appalachian Folk Dance‘ by Robert W. Smith.
After the concert students posed for group photos in the gym. Beginning Band and Concert Band consist mostly of sixth and seventh graders. According to the Madison MS website, “Symphonic Band is the most advanced performing group at Madison Middle School,” while Jazz Band is for “more experienced students with advanced musical skills.”