THS welcomes new band director
By Lauren Wester
lauren.wester@fct.wpengine.com
Tharptown High School’s new band director Callie Henderson has already put a lot of hard work and effort into her 27 band students.
At the first home game Aug. 25, the band got the chance to show that off. Band members performed three songs they had worked extra hard to perfect in time for the first game, Henderson said.
“They are all so driven and passionate and want to learn more,” she said.
Henderson said she is working extra hard to give them the education and the practice she believes they deserve. She said she spends 15 minutes once a week with each individual students, giving them one-on-one help, but said she wishes she could expand that to an hour if time would allow it.
Her goal is to expand the program and “blow it up big and fast,” she said. In two years, Henderson said, she would like for them to be able to enter a marching band competition; a drum line competition might be possible even sooner than that.
Currently, Tharptown’s band meets for classes in a mobile unit, but Henderson said she would like for the band to progress and be able to have a new band room, uniforms and instruments. Their first outfit coming in will be a white polo with THS Band written in blue along with a music-themed design.
“I’m a big fan of simple but sharp and flashy,” she said of the uniforms.
Henderson is a graduate of the University of North Alabama. Her interest in music started in the fifth grade when the band director had her test out a clarinet and discovered that she had a real talent for it. Now Henderson can also play the flute, saxophone and baritone.
She said she has been writing a lot of the music for the students herself. A possible future tune for the group might be a version of the song “Light Em Up” by the Fall Out Boys. Some themes she is considering are the Beach Boys or a rock ‘n’ roll sound.
Henderson put the Band Booster Program into motion at THS. The boosters meet twice a month and are currently hosting a fundraiser, selling tickets for $10 apiece or $20 for three tickets for a 75-quart Yeti cooler. So far, they have raised almost $1,000. The fundraiser will continue until the last home football game, where they will draw and announce the name of the winner.
Henderson said she is looking forward to the rest of the season and excited about her new position that she calls one of the best blessings of her life.
