NDA Band is gearing up for a busy year with many events and concerts planned. They marched this past weekend in the Green Bay Holiday Parade on Saturday, November 18, and the warm weather was much appreciated this year.
“The students did really well – it helped that the weather was a full 20 degrees warmer than it was last year. That makes a big difference,” said Mr. Steve Johnson, band director.
Johnson never originally intended to teach music. He started teaching music as a way to supplement his income as a performing musician and has stuck with it ever since.
“I originally started teaching music as a way to supplement my income as a performing musician. My life has changed a lot over the years, and now I really enjoy it!” said Johnson.
His favorite part about teaching band is the connections he gets to make with students and their families, along with the exciting music they get to learn along the way.
“My favorite part of teaching band is getting to know the students and their families, as well as working on fun and interesting music to present at concerts and festivals,” said Johnson.
He is looking forward to traveling to New Orleans in March of 2024, which he describes as “really exciting.” The group hasn’t been to New Orleans since 2018.
The jazz band participated in the Lawrence University Jazz Weekend on Saturday, November 4, and will be in Stevens Point on Friday, February 2, for the UW Stevens Point Jazz Festival.
Twenty-two new freshmen have joined the band this year, and the three drum majors are Kevin Angoa, Joshua Metzentine and Adam Nienow. They were all in agreement on the success of the GB Holiday Parade and thought it went “incredibly well.”
“Having in mind that it was my first parade I conducted as head drum major, the band sounded strong in my opinion,” said Angoa.
He’s looking forward to all the events the band has coming up, but is most excited about the St. Patrick Day parade, as it was cut short last year due to unforeseen–freezing weather–circumstances.
“I’m most looking towards the St. Patrick’s Day Parade because we didn’t finish it last year; we had to cut it short because all of our instruments were frozen,” said Angoa.
Angola originally joined the band freshman year not knowing anything about playing the saxophone, but was curious about playing an instrument.
“I joined because I always dreamed about playing an instrument with different skilled-leveled musicians; it always intrigued me,” said Angoa. His favorite part is getting to go play at football, basketball, and hockey games and “cheering them to victory.”
Adam Nienow originally joined the band because he had been playing music since fifth grade and wanted to continue playing. He was also inspired by his other brother, who was a member of the band.
“Once I found out that NDA had a band, I was really interested in joining and playing. I went to a couple pep band games and concerts and it seemed like a lot of fun,” said Nienow. His favorite part of being in the band now is the people and getting to play music with everyone.
