Black Knights Marching Band

Last night, the members of the Stamford High Bands performed their spring concert in the SHS auditorium. The program kicked off with a stand-still performance of Stamford Winter Percussion's show, "Teenage Wasteland." Members of the band played William Tell Overture, Amazing Grace, and finished the Concert Band portion of the program with a joint performance with Dolan Middle School's band. The students combined to perform The Stars & Stripes Forever, giving everyone involved the experience of playing with students they don't normally see. Finally, the Jazz Ensemble ended the concert with Salt Peanuts, Greensleeves, Angel Eyes, and Boogie Stop Shuffle.

This weekend, the Stamford High School Drama Club closed its run of the classic 1960's musical, How to Succeed in Business (Without Really Trying!).

The comedic musical is full of vaudeville-inspired music, distinct characters and story twists that have stood the test of time.

The Stamford Jazz Ensemble spent the day at Western Connecticut State University on Friday, April 25 for their annual Jazz Festival, featuring Jimmy Heath and Cedar Walton as guest artists. The ensemble played a set of three charts for adjudication: "Salt Peanuts" featuring Xavier Rosario, Michael Galgano, Dan Bishop and Omi Batan; "Greensleeves" featuring John Mahoney and Matt Van Houten; and "Boogie Stop Shuffle" featuring Matt Van Houten, Michael Singer, Ethan Gooding and Alex Beltran.

Stamford Winter Percussion gets coverage by the best in sticks and mallets, Vic Firth. Check out the video from warm-up on the website:

http://www.vicfirth.com/features/WGI2008/video/stamford1HQ.html

Stamford Winter Percussion returned yesterday from their trip to Dayton, Ohio for WGI World Percussion Championships.

Two overnight bus rides, four days of drumming, and one earthquake later, SWP returns to their hometown as finalists in the Scholastic Open class, with a final score of 91.30.

Despite threats of thunderstorms, the rain held off long enough on April 12 for Stamford High School to host the 2008 MAC Winter Percussion Championships. With units from all over the tri-state area in attendance, the crowd was big and loud. The food was great, the ensembles rocked the gym and the event was run with almost no incidents.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2008 MAC Championship:

On Saturday, April 5, Stamford Winter Percussion competed in its last MAC show before MAC Championships and the big trip to Dayton, Ohio. Precision and unity combined with heartfelt passion created a performance that impressed the judges and connected with the audience. The students were rewarded with a score of 94.00, a big jump from their previous 89.20 at the Coatesville WGI Regional.

This is an incredible achievement at this point in the season, with less than two weeks separating Stamford Winter Percussion from their preliminary performance at WGI Championships in Dayton. Next weekend is the MAC Winter Percussion Championship, held here at Stamford High School, beginning at 5:00pm. Get there, get loud and get excited - we're in the home stretch.

Check out the pictures!

Saturday, March 29 was the second WGI Regional Competition for Stamford Winter Percussion. After a three hour bus ride into Pennsylvania, Winter Percussion performed in prelims with precision and accuracy. The afternoon was spent rehearsing in the sun and checking out the competition. Later that evening, the students brought "Teenage Wasteland" to a new place by performing their most passionate and energetic show so far.

With a score of 89.20, Stamford won 2nd place, and is well on their way to becoming Open Class finalists. Their next show is this Saturday, April 5 in Shelton, and following that, Stamford High School hosts MAC Winter Percussion Championships on Saturday, April 12 at 5:00pm.

Check out the photos!