Our Lady of Humility School hosts band festival

Submitted by Our Lady of Humility School

On Saturday, April 25, the gymnasium at Our Lady of Humility School reverberated with the sounds of no less than 100 instruments played by an equal number of musicians from six Catholic elementary schools.

This first-ever "All Catholic Schools Band Festival" was organized by Christopher Hills, director of Music on the Move and music teacher at Our Lady of Humility School.

"Our vision was to invite all the bands from the area Catholic schools to play as one orchestra," Hills said. "The bands from St. Joseph in Libertyville, St. Patrick in Wadsworth, St. Anastasia in Waukegan, Our Lady of Humility in Beach Park, Most Blessed Trinity in Waukegan and St. Gilbert in Grayslake all arrived in the morning, and after meeting each other for the first time, got started working together to prepare for an afternoon concert."

"Each of our separate school bands has anywhere from two to 30 musicians," Our Lady of Humility School Principal Patrick Browne said. "The idea to bring them all together for one day gave the musicians the opportunity to be part of a very large band, and it was nothing short of spectacular.

"The students were very serious, as they wanted to do their best, and Mr. Hills was able to bring a number of musical professors and teachers from other music programs, including the Latin School in Chicago and Illinois State University. With so many music teachers, each section of the band was able to learn their part for the concert and the students responded very well."

"This will definitely become an annual tradition," Hills added. "We may even see if we can do it around Christmas and make it open to the public."

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