Spirit of Jupiter marches on

Madeline+Lea+leads+the+Spirit+of+Jupiter+band+at+a+home+football+game+on+Nov.+1.

Prestige Portraits

Madeline Lea leads the Spirit of Jupiter band at a home football game on Nov. 1.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has kept students off campus, Jupiter High’s award-winning band, the Spirit of Jupiter, is still making efforts to practice through quarantine, in addition to completing assignments on music theory. 

“The music theory packets are really long and extensive, but they refresh our knowledge of music theory,” Sierra Witchey, band captain and clarinet player, said. “Even the simplest things that we may have forgotten were mentioned there.” 

Band students are also assigned to practice their instruments and record themselves in an app called Smart Music.

They are practicing not only to keep their skills up but [also] to develop new skills so that they can push to more challenging literature,” Ryan Ross, Jupiter High’s band director, said.

To close out the school year, band students will have to compose a song using an online digital audio workstation.

They have to compose different elements while combining with previously written loops to create a unique song,” Ross said.

According to Witchey, transitioning band class from school to home was the same as transitioning the rest of her classes, but she misses playing music with her classmates.

“Band is more fun when it’s at school, and I enjoy it more, but we’re making the best of it in quarantine,” Witchey said.