Our Ensembles: A Prologue
Pine View School’s Band Program is open to students in Grades 6-12 as a full academic course and includes five ensembles: Beginning, Intermediate, and Concert Bands, and the advanced Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band. Students typically join band in middle school and play throughout high school. Students are placed in an ensemble according to their experience rather than grade level, with additional performance and competition opportunities available as students advance.
Each band performs at least two on-campus concerts annually, a Winter and a Spring Concert. The advanced bands, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band, perform more frequently, at both school and private functions.
An extracurricular sixth ensemble exists—the Jazz Combo, a small group of Jazz Band students who play regularly at school, community, and private events.
Either as soloists or in ensembles, many Pine View Band students participate in regional and state assessments offered through The Florida Bandmaster Association and Florida School Music Association including Musical Performance Assessments (MPAs) in which judges evaluate students on key metrics of musicianship. Students may also choose to audition for the prestigious All-State Band, which performs at the annual Florida Music Education Association conference each January in Tampa. Individual students also audition for All-District Honors Band, while the ensembles participate in additional music assessments and competitions, such as the Jazz Club of Sarasota’s High School Jazz Competition and Braden River High School’s Big Band Brawl.
Beyond classroom instruction and rehearsal, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band travel together to a competition festival every spring. Past destinations include New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Orlando. These trips offer students an exciting musical experience, increase camaraderie, offer an opportunity to explore a new destination, and become an unforgettable high school highlight.
