The LakeVille Falcon Marching Band has a tradition of excellence going back over 30 years.
The previous director Andy Schmid helped rebuild the program into the powerhouse that it is. In 2001 Mr. Schmid was joined by Mr. Jason Russell and they joint taught for 6 years. After Mr. Schmid's retirement Mr. Russell would take over the program and continue the tradition of excellence that had been established.
The LakeVille school district is a consolidation of three small villages in northern Genesee and Lapeer counties. They are the towns of Otter Lake, Otisville, and Columbiaville. All three contribute students to the main middle school and high school campus. The music program at LakeVille includes almost 25% of the overall student population. Some classes are closer to 40-45% of that particular class.
The bands have received top honors at band festivals at the district and state levels during the concert season. They have also won the best marching band award at the Caro Pumpkin festival parade many times over the last 15 years. The band has also been nominated by representative Dan Kildee and selected to perform in the Washington D.C. 4th of July parade in 2016. The group is looking for sponsorship and support in funding this amazing opportunity.
With as successful as the marching band is, they are not a competitive group. They do not go to marching festivals or marching competitions. This tends to be an anomaly in the marching band world. However, they do prepare and perform a new half time show for every home football game. This includes new music and drill for each game. Most competition bands will perform 4-5 pieces in a season. The Falcon Marching band will perform 12-15 selections per year, so after high school the students will have had the opportunity to perform 40-50 pieces of music. Another unique feature is that on the last show of the season we honor our seniors by letting them pick the music from their previous years as well as write and create the marching drill. This is a truly collaborative experience for the students.
Biography of Jason Russell, Director of Bands
Mr. Jason Russell is the current director of bands at LakeVille Community Schools. He is currently in his 15th year of teaching all of which have been happily spent in the LakeVille School district. He completed a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Western Michigan University and a Master of Music in Music Education from Central Michigan University. He was also appointed the Director of Bands for the Lions of Michigan All State Band, which is an international touring ensemble performing at the Lions international convention each year as a representative of the state of Michigan.
His duties as director of bands includes teaching the beginning band students all the way through the advanced high school students who may be college bound as musicians. He currently has bands in 6th, 7th and 8th grade as well as two high school ensembles. The advanced high school ensemble strives to tackle college level music and push the students musically as far as possible.