• Band

    Real Bands Wear Kilts!

    Dunedin High School is located in Dunedin, Florida, and was first opened in 1961. The school embraced the Scottish heritage of the city, and became widely known for having an outstanding performing arts program that incorporated the Scottish Arts. Today, this Pinellas County school proudly upholds the tradition of excellence established over 50 years ago. The Instrumental Music Department at DHS has expanded to include a jazz ensemble, percussion ensemble, and a concert orchestra in addition to the symphonic wind bands, pipe band, Highland dancers, and iconic Scottish Highlander Marching Band.


    Every week is a productive week for our music department! This past weekend, we had two different events. 
     
    Solo & Ensemble MPA #1
    What is Solo & Ensemble? Students are able to work on their own pieces of music in groups (ensembles) or by themselves with a pianist (solos). The students play in front of an adjudicator that then give them a rating based on their performance. There are two separate dates for this, but we had 7 students brave enough to participate in this earlier one. The events that received Superiors will be able to participate in State S&E.
     
    Solos:
     
    Annie O'Brien, Flute: Superior
    Sophia Valentino, Alto Saxophone: Superior
    Elijah Lyles, Alto Saxophone: Excellent
     
    Ensembles:
    Annie O'Brien & Gavyn Santore; Flute Duet: Superior
    Elijah Lyles, Jacob Szymanski, Damien Webb, Jordan Mcneil; Saxophone Quartet: Excellent
     
    Suncoast Highland Games
    On Saturday, the Pipe Band and one of our Highland Dancers participated in their 2nd Highland Games. It was their first year back, and we had a blast. The DHS Pipe Band received 2nd place in the Grade 4, and the DHMS received 2nd place in the grade 5! Attached is a photo of both Pipe Bands. 😊

    Ten of our DHS band students had a busy week participating in All County Band! The students audition for these ensembles in November, and get selected to participate in a group of other students of high caliber in Pinellas County. The students worked incredibly hard and incredibly long with a 4-7pm rehearsal on Wednesday, and 4-9pm rehearsals on Thursday and Friday. Not to mention, they took place at Seminole High School. 
     
    The students played their concert at the Mahaffey Theatre at 2pm, and they sounded amazing. 
     
    Thank you to all of you for supporting these students in everything that they do, especially in all of our music and arts programs:
     
    Annalise O'Brien
    Taylor Green
    Gavyn Santore
    Abigail Palmer
    Sophia Valentino
    Terra Parsons
    Indira Yengera
    Kade Duck
    Brenner Casselman
    Miles Freeman
     
           

     
    Hello Falcons!
     
    January is a super busy month for the Instrumental Department. Last week, we celebrated Pipe Band at FMEA and their 2nd place in the Orlando Highland Games. This week, we had 5 amazing Orchestra students participate in All County! Next week, All County Band.
     
    All County Orchestra is an audition based group of orchestra students in Pinellas County. This past week, they had rehearsals Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 4-8pm. On Saturday, they had the All County Orchestra concert at the Mahaffey Theater at 12:30, and that included an early call time for them for one last check up. Attached are photos of rehearsals and concert day!
     
    These were the students that made it and enjoyed their experience this week:
     
    Bethany Lindemann, Cello
    Indira Yengera, Violin 
    Anna Patterson, Violin
    Miguel Rivera, Violin
    Taylor Green, Cello

               


    Ms. Alicea just wanted to share with all of you how AWESOME the past few days have been for the Pipe Band Program. This past Friday, January 12th, 2024, the High School AND Middle School Pipe band performed at the FMEA (Florida Music Educators’ Association) Conference. This event is a professional development conference for all the music teachers in Florida, plus many professionals outside of Florida. 100s of bands apply to perform in the mini concert series, and the DHS and DHMS Pipe Bands were only 1 of 6 to get accepted! We had the biggest crowd out of all of the mini concerts, and we were proud to represent DHS, the city of Dunedin, and Pinellas County.

    The day after this performance, all the same students traveled to the Orlando Highland Games to be there by 8am. After a full day of solos and Pipe Band Competition, excited to announce that the DHS Pipe Band won 2nd place in the Grade 4!!!!!!

    Shout out to Ms. Mullholand for her students that made All State Chorus and also represented us well at the FMEA Conference!

                       Taylor Green