GHS Band Receives Sudler Shield Award

The GHS band had the honor of receiving the Sudler Shield award this past Monday.

This award is an international marching band award that is presented annually by the John Philip Sousa Foundation.

“It’s a very prestigious honor, as only 80 schools have EVER received this award since its inception in 1987,” band director Tom Reifenberg said.

Dr. W. Dale Warren of the University of Arkansas was in attendance to hand out before the GHS band performed for the Notre Dame band this past Monday.

“I think that overall, the concert went really good! I think that the songs sounded good and that bringing the three bands together worked out really well,” freshmen Mallory Potters said.

Notre Dame marching/ concert band performed after GHS performed their two marching songs. We can all say that Notre Dame band brought something new to the table.

“Notre Dame was really good. They got the crowd involved and played music that was interesting and fun,” junior Anna Turdo said.

Watching Notre Dame play opened up some eyes of the GHS band members.

“I thought Notre Dame was a really talented and fun group; they gave us a perspective that was humbling as the 13 consecutive state champions. Their talent helped us realize that we still have so much room to grow,” freshmen Kelsea Mevis said.

The band students also had the opportunity to work with Dr. Warren, who is a well known composer from Arkansas, who flew here to hand deliver the Sudler Shield Award to the band.

“I think that Dr. Warren is a really good conductor because he gets the band excited to play. He used specific words and body language to get us to think differently about the music and it made it more fun to play,” Potters said.

Before they received the award Principal Steve Lodes said a few words about the band and how they’ve grown from years ago.