Page 26 - Fall 2025

Music Department -
News From The Music Room
By Kevin Mania,
HHS Music Faculty
Greetings from the Music Room!
The best part of our jobs in the music department is
that we play music with kids all day. Knowing that we
are getting ready to connect with the students after
summer break makes it so much easier to transition
from summer to the school year. We had a nice
relaxing summer and came back to the school year
refreshed and ready to make music.
If you were a part of the music department, you know
that the beginning of the year means it’s time for the
auditions for the fall musical. This year we are proud to
present “NEWSIES” for our community. The auditions
this year were great! We have so many great students
auditioning. After the hard process of casting this
show, we have over 50 students involved with our
production. This includes kids on stage, backstage and
in the pit. We are sure that this year’s show will be a
great success. The kids have been having a great time
working on the show. We look forward to presenting
our show on November 21 at 7:00 PM, November 22 at
7:00 PM and November 23 at 2:00 PM.
We have started the year off strong with having our
first quarter band and chorus concerts in late October.
On October 23rd we had our middle and high school
chorus concert. Each group performed four selections.
After both groups performed, we had a combined
chorus that performed with a band made up of several
students. It was a fun concert that people seemed to
enjoy. On October 27th we had our middle and high
school band concert. Each group played a selection
of four pieces as well. It has been a fast paced two
months to get these concerts prepared. This quick
turnaround makes kids work extra hard and develop
skills to work with each other with little time. It builds
a great atmosphere.
Modern bands have continued to grow at a healthy
pace. We now offer five sections of modern band
in our black and white day rotation. Each group is
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working hard to push themselves. Each class period
has two to three bands working simultaneously in
different areas. It is such a great part of my day to be
able to walk around and coach each group knowing
that they are all rehearsing by themselves while I am
not with them. This is a true testament that they are
enjoying the class. They WANT to rock the whole
class period. There are some great things happening,
not just music. They are learning about leadership,
teamwork and pride in what they do. They are working
on learning songs to perform at their concert on
January 13th.
We are hosting two festivals this year. The district
Instrumental Jazz festival is scheduled for February 9th
with a snow date of the 12th. We should have about
six groups from around the county performing to
qualify for the state jazz competitions. We are proud
to host the second state Modern Band festival on April
11th. We will post those dates on our Music Boosters
Facebook page.
This year we are bringing something new to our
program. We will be starting our own chapter of Tri-M.
This is a national honors society for student musicians.
We can have students from grade 6-12 as part of our
program. In December we will start the application
process with the students to have our first chapter
members. This group will take on leadership roles
as well as find ways to serve our music program and
community.
Things look good for this school year. The students
and teachers are excited to see how the year
progresses. We look forward to meeting with many of
you over the year at our concerts or
around town.
Cheers,
Kevin Mania
HMHS Music Department
kevin.mania@rsu29.org
207-538-3860
www.houltonalumni.com