Around 45 members of the Wind Ensemble, Advanced Performance Workshop, and the Jazz Band travelled to Yosemite last week for a five-day bonding trip, stopping along the way to perform for the Fresno State Orchestra and at Sierra High School.

Band teacher John Mattern takes his students to Yosemite every few years to help foster a sense of community.

“I love Yosemite, I think it’s a great place to go,” Mattern said. “A lot of band programs will go to Disneyland or something, but I like outdoors.”

Senior Carol Lee, a flutist in the Wind Ensemble, said the trip helped establish tighter relationships.

“You don’t really get to know each other by just playing [together],” Lee said.

The Redwood musicians also performed in front of band students from other high schools, as well as Fresno State students.

“It is a chance to play our music to different audiences other than just the current group of students around here,” said senior Alex Gotz, a trumpet player in the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band. “In Yosemite, we get the chance to play some of the smaller stuff and share our music.”

Although the group stopped to play at both Fresno State and Sierra High School, it spent most of the trip exploring Yosemite together.

“About half of our students have not been to Yosemite,” Mattern said. “That’s a real treat for people who haven’t gone and it’s a great bonding thing.”

Lee said the performance at Sierra High School was particularly special.

“When we came off the bus they were playing “‘When the Saints go Marching In,’ and they had us walk underneath a tunnel of people,” Lee said.

Not only did both bands performs for each other, but the Sierra students also prepared dinner and breakfast in their cafeteria for the Redwood band.

Because of funding, planning, and conflicting concert schedules, the trip has occurred just three times in the past ten years. But Mattern maintains that it is an important part of the program’s tradition. He said he thinks students have a more memorable experience in the music program if they get to know each other early on as underclassmen.

Gotz said the trip provided ideal conditions for bonding.

“We stay in tent cabins together,” Gotz said. “Even though we’re playing, we have a lot of down time.”

Lee said she was excited to finally participate in the trip this year, and will be sad to leave all of the band students with whom she has grown so close.

“Even though you’re not close with everybody, it just feels like – I know it’s really cliché but you’re one giant family.”