Photo: Ty Parker teaching new band students at Harmony School
LOGAN – For those unfamiliar, Harmony School is a community school near Logan and Crane Hill in Cullman, and is an amalgamation of three communities. The school houses grades kindergarten through eighth, at which point most of the students move on to West Point High School for their 9th-12th grade years.
Ty Parker, formerly the band director at Good Hope, is now in his first year as the band director at West Point. When he accepted the job, he knew he would also be asked to assist with building and reconstructing a firm foundation for the band program at West Point High School, which includes making sure that the kids who will be playing in the band in high school know their instruments in middle and elementary schools.
Because most of the students at Harmony filter into West Point, Parker has begun to build the foundation of a band program at Harmony.
“It is certainly hard because this is all at the ground floor,” he said. “There is no band room at Harmony, and we have been accumulating grants to afford instruments for some of the kids. We had to wander around the school, doing sound checks in different classrooms to see which room would least bother the other ones for band practice.”
Parker’s goal with the new program at Harmony is to build a band program that prepares the kids for marching band at West Point High School.
Parker, who has a deep love for band and the arts, feels that he is introducing a whole new world to the students at Harmony.
“These kids, because the school is kind of rural and away from everything, the kids who aren’t athletic, they need to know that there is another option for them, and that is the arts,” he said. “They have felt left out and they have felt like they are missing out. My goal is to help them realize that there is something that they can and will excel at.”
Parker said that the biggest challenge he has encountered while starting up and building foundations for new programs, is getting the kids in the mindset that they can mess up, and mistakes are okay.
“The most important thing is unconditional love,” he said. “These kids on the outskirts mess up one time and usually don’t get a second chance. I want them to know that they can mess up and that messing up is just a part of it all. You have to show that you really care and that music is fun.”
Between Parker’s program at West Point and at Harmony there are 55 beginner students.
“I have never had that many beginners before,” he said.
The students from Harmony will march with the West Point marching band at halftime of a game in October.
Those who feel inclined to donate funds or instruments to the Harmony band program may call, email or visit the Harmony school for more information.
Find them online at http://hm.ccboe.org/.
Copyright 2016 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
