‘We’ve got to help each other.’ Lee County wins Herald-Leader small marching band poll.
“The Pride of the Mountains” reigns supreme once more.
In preparation for this weekend’s Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) State Marching Band Championships, the Herald-Leader asked band appreciators all across the commonwealth to cast their votes for the best small high school marching band in Kentucky.
Due to the massive success and unexpected engagement of the 2023 battle of the bands poll — which Lee County High School won by a 12% margin — the Herald-Leader opted to split this year’s into two. Again, the Bobcats faithful came out in droves, this time ensuring that Lee County defended its title.
Marching band supporters cast more than 18,000 votes in the Herald-Leader’s small band poll, in which readers were allowed to vote as many times as they liked. Here’s how the top 15 shook out:
1. Lee County (40%)
2. Estill County (32%)
3. Valley (11%)
4. Beechwood (9%)
5. North Oldham (3%)
6. Lloyd Memorial (1%)
7. Pulaski County (less than 1%)
8. East Jessamine (less than 1%)
9. Mercer County (less than 1%)
10. Williamstown (less than 1%)
11. Adair County (less than 1%)
12. Christian Academy of Louisville (less than 1%)
13. Rowan County (less than 1%)
14. Harlan (less than 1%)
15. Warren East (less than 1%)
In all, every one of the 70 schools in the poll received votes. The same was true for the 35 bands in the big band poll.
“I never really understood how band could be a family until we marched all these years,” Lee County trumpeter Skyler Caldwell said.
If you as an outsider were to witness, however, the Lee County band work in unison — whether at a football game, or in a competition setting — as the students performed, and watched as band director Tony Barrett cheered excitedly from the sideline, it wouldn’t be difficult to tell that the Bobcats are deeply connected.
The Herald-Leader spoke with Barrett and three Lee County band seniors after the poll results were finalized to discuss what it means to be part of the band, and how hard they’ve worked to reach the point they’re at — Class A state quarterfinal winners bound for the KMEA State Championships in Louisville this weekend.
Caldwell, who’s been involved with band since she was in sixth grade, joined because it was the only extracurricular activity that interested her. She had a slight interest in music, Caldwell said, “but it didn’t really develop until I got into the band and saw the atmosphere and the people in it.”
“Honestly, back then I had no idea where I would be today,” Caldwell added. “It was such a unique experience to see how we’ve grown.”
Caldwell is the first member of her family to get involved with music, and, despite her fast appreciation gained for the atmosphere and community back in middle school, she found her passion for band started to wane around 2019, when she first marched.
“Our first season, it honestly was not great,” Caldwell said. “I started to falter in my love for music. And when Mr. Barrett came along, he not only saved my love for music, but he saved me, in a sense. It’s been unbelievable.”
A 1998 graduate of Lee County and a trumpeter in the band himself, Barrett is in his second stint as the high school band director, previously serving from 1999-2009 and returning in 2021.
It doesn’t hurt, naturally, that the two can bond over playing the trumpet, something Caldwell said Barrett has taught her a lot to love about it. During her career with the Lee County band, Caldwell has endured a significant amount of change to the program, including its popularity. Since 2021, the band has increased in size from eight students to 32.
“My job is to teach them how to play,” Barrett said. “But not only that. I don’t want to say ‘fall in love with it,’ but how to appreciate it. And how to really understand how it can impact their lives.”
And appreciate it, his students have. In fact, Caldwell has grown such a sense of pride and appreciation for music that she and other members take time to teach future Bobcats about band, too.
“I love teaching some of the younger kids and seeing the new ones that join,” Caldwell said. “I love to teach them about my instrument, and we will go into our elementary school sometimes to recruit for the middle schoolers that come up here. And it’s one of my favorite things, because I’ve been playing for so long, I love to show my instrument off and bring more to the band. Because honestly, the experience that I’ve had is so great. I want to share that with everybody.”
Music may come naturally to many, or sooner than it does to others.
Some, like Caldwell, find their way to band in middle school. Some are captivated by music theory, and listen to symphonies in their free time. Others come from families where music is king, where it’s normal to continue the tradition of brass, or percussion or whatever it may be that your parents encouraged.
For many, of course, that’s not the case.
Maybe it’s a lack of exposure, or true knowledge of what music is, and what it can be. Or a self-imposed limitation which tells you that you can’t be a musician, that it’s too late to start trying.
Barrett doesn’t believe in any of that. And he refuses to let his students believe it, either, which has aided in the rapid growth of the Bobcats’ program.
Similarly to Caldwell, senior keyboard player Dylan Noe doesn’t come from a musical family. A former basketball player, Noe lost his passion for the sport and went in search of a new extracurricular to enjoy after sophomore year.
He’d been discussing quitting basketball with a friend in the band who suggested Noe give it a shot; once he did, Barrett sat down with Noe and another student and taught them everything they needed to know. Barrett even lent Noe one of the school keyboards.
“I had never really touched a keyboard in my life,” Noe said. “And he taught us. I can play OK now, I can play some songs. But I really attribute all that just to him. It’s amazing. I really value him because he’s taught me to play my favorite instrument I’ve ever heard.”
Now, his only regret with band is not joining it sooner, appreciating how it feels to have music be part of his day-to-day life.
Senior baritone Kaison Phillips was also brought to the band his junior year by way of that same friend (shoutout to Jesse Drake), as well as Barrett, who also teaches arts and humanities classes and has known many of his students for much of their lives.
“I’m glad I did (join),” Phillips said. “I’ve been through a lot with my friends, my band family, and I don’t regret any bit of it.”
Although, Phillips said, the baritone — a horn instrument somewhere between a trumpet and a tuba — was not an easy undertaking.
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my entire life,” Phillips said. “I was not the strongest kid in my first year in band, and it was a struggle to march with that thing the whole show. But this year, you know, I realized in my senior year I had to step up. So it’s easier now than it was last year.”
While it was always a joy to share in the experiences of band — competing, going on the bus, spending time with everybody — Phillips specifically cited this year’s competition at Morehead State in September as a special feeling worth coming back for, time and time again.
“Everybody came back and was jumping up and down because we had a really good show,” Phillips said. “It just felt amazing.”
Barrett, endlessly proud of his students, acknowledged the difficulties of band. Not only do the students have to learn a new instrument, but they also have to find a way to come together and form a cohesive unit while wowing their community.
They march at a certain tempo, and everybody has to be in step as they perform complicated choreography. Barrett called it “a whole body experience — it’s not just the right- or left-brain experience, it takes the whole being to make it possible.”
“Something that our society is missing is grit,” Barrett said. “Basically the attitude that they can do it. In our cancel culture, when kids say something is hard, they tend to give up. And not this group. This group, when things get hard, they push harder. They work very, very hard, and they are determined.”
However, one person the students never have to worry about impressing is Barrett himself.
“What I love about my kids is that they don’t give up and they support each other,” Barrett said. “It’s unbelievable how encouraging they are to each other. And any time you’re in a group, no matter if it’s band, or if it’s any kind of other group, that’s what it takes. It takes teamwork, it takes discipline, it takes a good attitude to work together.
“And that’s what I try to instill in them. It’s not just about making music, it’s not just about playing an instrument. It’s about helping each other get to the point that everybody’s capable of getting to, it’s just, we’ve got to encourage each other. We’ve got to help each other.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 11:35 AM.
