The music program, taught by Chip Boaz, is where students come to express their creativity through music and discover a community among their fellow musicians. Freshmen who come to Redwood in hopes of playing in the school’s band will likely start in the concert band, a class where students come together to play music arranged specifically for a variety of instruments.

“Our concert band is generally students who are transitioning from middle school into Redwood, and there’s a lot more skill building in there,” Boaz said. “The symphonic band is [for] more advanced students who have been through concert band and also have shown a little more commitment to the process and the instrument skills and the musicality.”

Students who continue to symphonic band will start playing music at a higher level. The pieces they rehearse and eventually perform at the end of the semester are generally more challenging, requiring greater focus and technique. This class is primarily composed of upperclassmen dedicated to enhancing their musical skills.

However, finding a passion for music often doesn’t begin in high school. Jeff Derby, who has been teaching music at Hall Middle School for more than 20 years, explains the process that students go through to play in the band in middle school.

“In fifth grade, [students] start band instruments, so they come to [Hall] with a little bit of experience playing in a band,” Derby said. “At Hall, we have four bands—two beginning bands, which are sixth grade; one intermediate band, which is seventh grade; and an advanced band, which is eighth grade.”

After playing in a band in middle school, some students choose to continue playing in high school. This can often be a big transition for these incoming freshmen, but Mr. Boaz provides the new students with all the resources they need to advance their music skills.

“I do know the skills that students need to be able to pursue music at a higher level, so I’m prepared to work on all of those with our students,” Boaz said. “When students get here, there are always some adjustments.”

Music programs, both at Redwood and at middle schools, have faced many challenges in recent years. In particular, COVID-19 made it difficult for music programs to continue operating. Since then, many music programs have been working to restore enrollment to pre-pandemic levels.

“We’re still seeing the effects of the COVID pandemic on the music program, and that’s not just [at Hall]. I’ve talked to music teachers all over the Bay Area, and everyone’s feeling that,” Boaz said.

Additionally, changes to middle school programs have affected the number of students going into the music program at Redwood as freshmen. Hall, for example, has recently cut the two electives that students are allowed to take down to one.

“We used to have a seven-period day where kids [could] take two electives, but it’s a six-period day now with only one elective,” Derby said. “So I’m in competition with the other electives. And we lose a lot [of students] because, you know, everyone thinks they have to be prepared for Spanish.”

Despite dealing with these challenges, Redwood’s music program consistently works to encourage middle school students to continue playing music into high school. The cycle comes full circle every year when they attend assemblies at each of the local public middle schools and give a performance in hopes of inspiring these younger generations who might have just started their journey in music.

“Mr. Boaz brings the program down to the feeder middle schools—Kent, Del Mar and Hall—for assemblies,” Derby said. “I think that gets kids excited to see what they can eventually sound like and [that they can] be a part of a musical family.”

Boaz also expresses gratitude for the ability of the high school music program to share their talents with younger students as well.

“Redwood is really fortunate to have three feeder schools, all with music programs,” Boaz said. “So even though we do feel that downfall where COVID might be hitting us, it is really nice to have these schools coming in.”

The music program continues to build a supportive environment for students to learn and grow alongside their peers.