Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007
Windy Neal, 22, figured she’d help her students enjoy themselves, learn new songs and strengthen their marching as she eased into her first year as band director at Walkersville High School.
Little did she know that she would be the general of a band that expects to place first in the Tournament of Bands. The high school competes in Group 1, Chapter 5, comprising high school marching bands in Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery, Carroll and Frederick counties, that have 35 instrumentalists or less.
Band members have also told Neal they want to finish in the top 10 for bands their size and compete at the Atlantic Coast Championship in Dover, Del.
‘‘I found out they have the competitive edge of an Army band,” said Neal, a Baltimore native and resident. ‘‘They expect to be drilled constantly.”
The band practices for three or four hours each Tuesday through Friday, and then another six hours every Saturday, Neal said.
Neal directed the band to second place out of six at its first competition of the season Saturday, in Sykesville. The results pleased her, she said, but for her charges, the second-place band was the first loser.
‘‘They were like, ‘No, we wanted to beat Liberty [High School]. That’s all we wanted to do,’” Neal said.
Neal, who graduated earlier this year from Frostburg State University and plays the clarinet and alto and tenor saxophone, said that she has enjoyed meeting her students’ parents.
The band’s director for the four previous years, David Franceschina, relocated to Middletown Middle School, citing a desire to spend more time with his family in a farewell letter posted on the band’s Web site this summer.
Mark Smith, president of Walkersville High’s band boosters, said Wednesday that he has been impressed with Neal’s leadership on the practice field and at her first competition.
‘‘We are currently ranked 11 out of 63 [bands in the Atlantic Coast region of Group 1 size],” said Smith, whose daughter, Allyson, is in Walkersville High’s color guard. ‘‘For [recently] taking over a program, that’s pretty exceptional.”
The band community, after seeing their marching Lions take the Chapter 5, Group 1 top prize for three years running, and seventh place at the Atlantic Coast Championships in 2006, have placed a lot of expectations on Neal’s young shoulders.
‘‘This is completely new to me,” she said, adding that she comes from ‘‘a noncompetitive band.”
‘‘I think, if [my students] could just come to school and do band all day, they would do it.”
Indeed, Smith said that Neal’s enthusiasm and hands-on approach to directing the marching band have indicated that Walkersville’s tradition of quality performances is going to continue this fall. The next stop on the tournament circuit is Mechanicsburg, Pa. on Saturday.
‘‘She is down on the field with the band while they’re going through their run-throughs,” Smith said. ‘‘The kids love her.”
By the numbers
Walkersville High School
