The band program is off to a running start this year with the Spirit of the Vikings Marching Band and Vanguard going on a camping trip to Camp Thunder a few weeks ago. We participated in leadership training exercises, COPES courses, and a tubing adventure. This camping trip set us up for the real camp… Band Camp, which was before school started. The band is performing a jazz/ Latin show this year. We are performing Birdland, El Gato Triste, and the Land of Make Believe. We will also be adding several new, fresh stand tunes for the football games. The Viking Band has also been invited to perform at the Georgia State Fair from September 23-25th.
Friday, September 12th will be “band night” for all participants in the band program. We will have every band student at the game that night to participate in stand music and see the Viking Band perform.
We have also made some key additions of music equipment with the additions of two beautiful sousaphones, a new concert tuba, new percussionand we have added significantly to our music library over the summer. All of these instruments will add depth and color to our band. We are so very grateful for these additions!
The sixth band returns this year excited about a new program of music to perform. Their first concert will be on October 16th at 7:00pm.
The fifth grade band that is starting up this year looks to be a very promising class of musicians with over forty kids participating!
Band Director: Jonathan Baker
Jonathan Baker graduated from Lassiter High School Band Program in Marietta under the direction of Alfred L. Watkins in 1988. He graduated from the Chicago Musical College in 1993 with a Bachelor of Music degree in trombone performance. In 1996, Baker moved to Boston to attend the world renowned New England Conservatory of Music. He earned his Masters of Music in bass trombone performance in 1998. He has studied with the leading trombonists in the country including Douglas Yeo of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Joseph Alessi and Donald Harwood of the New York Philharmonic, Charles Vernon of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Mark Fisher of the Chicago Lyric Opera. Baker completed his certification in music education in Hartford, Conn., in 1999. Upon receiving certification, he taught instrumental music in the inner city of Hartford. He was also appointed as bass trombone professor at the University of Connecticut in Storrs from 1999-2001. Baker has been involved in a wide range of projects including studio recordings for independent films, soundtracks for WGBH Boston Public Television and Radio, recordings with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, N.Y., a promotional video for a prominent insurance company, recordings with the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, a CD with the nine piece jazz-fusion group, Klarmusic, as well as several television commercials. He has performed with numerous symphony orchestras including the Hartford Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, New Hampshire Symphony, the Vermont Symphony, the Boston Ballet Company, the Albany Symphony Orchestra in New York, as well as the Newport Music Festival in Rhode Island. He has performed numerous Broadway productions as an orchestral musician, including a two year national tour of The Music Man from 2001-2003. Mr. Baker is currently the bass trombonist for the Ocmulgee Symphony Orchestra, the Georgia Big Band, Mabel White Memorial Baptist Church Orchestra, and can be heard frequently with Macon Little Theatre productions. Baker is married to Juciene, originally from Brazil. They are members of Mabel White Memorial Baptist Church where together they serve on the
missions team. Mr. Baker has beautiful one year old daughter named Isabella.
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