FDL HS Band Going To Boston Next Month

Fond du Lac High School musicians will take their show on the road April 9 to 14 as they travel to Boston, Mass.

More than 100 members of the high school bands, along with band directors Matt McVeigh and Chris Barnes, will make the trip that includes a clinic with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a performance outside Boston’s Faneuil Hall.

“This trip serves as an outstanding learning experience for our students,” McVeigh said. “They will learn about music, about Boston culture and history, and about themselves. I’m excited that our students get to represent their school and community in this way.”

The high school band program offers a travel experience every other year. Students from all three bands — concert, symphony and SWAP (symphonic winds and percussion) — are eligible for the trip.

“In a short period of time students work hard to rehearse the music they will perform,” McVeigh said. “Our older students are expected to be leaders and help younger students. And our younger students are able to stretch their musical abilities.”

In addition to the clinic with the Boston Symphony and the Faneuil Hall performance,   students will perform a concert as part of a high school exchange program with students from Lexington High School.  

Immersion in the culture and history of Boston is just as important as the musical experience, McVeigh said.

“I think you get a much better feel for history and culture when you can visit a city like Boston,” he said. “Students will be able to stand on the site of the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party and catch the aroma of clam chowder wafting through the markets.”

The trip also includes stops at Boston Tea Party Museum, sites from the Revolutionary War on Boston’s Freedom Trail, Boston Commons, Fenway Garden Society, Cheers restaurant, Salem Witch Museum, Prudential Skywalk and Quincy Market.

Students will attend a performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, take a cruise on Boston harbor and participate in Shear Madness murder mystery theater.