Pep rallies take tremendous amounts of preparation. The staff puts in much effort to make sure everything goes smoothly, though it is up to the band.

Ms. Benkert went to Woodbridge High School to get their band teacher’s music. She used thiers and found other music to perform at the pep rally. The band students, she said, were “really quick and got it together” when it came to music and were “awesome on stage.”

Besides the concerts, she commented that the band will be participating in a competition trip at Six Flags. They’ll also be performing at a New Jersey Devils game and at the eighth grade graduation. They have their own Middle School Band Day coming soon.

It is Ms. Benkert’s second year at WMS and she loves it here. To make things more enjoyable for her students she likes to have competitions and other events in class, and instead of the monotonous music, she likes to include more modern and fun music like the music from Star Wars.  The only problems she has is when her students don’t practice, which delays the whole band.

Several musicians in the band discussed their involvement; Daniel Kauyza, Matthew Muldowney, Kamil Lemdani, and Nikola Zemojtel. Daniel and Kamil play saxophone, Nikola plays flute, and Matthew plays trumpet .

The players all said they were not nervous on stage. When asked how well they thought they practiced Daniel responded, “Good, most of the songs I knew.” He continued to say that a few of the students played in the Woodbridge High School Marching band, Daniel being one.

The students really enjoy band. The most exciting part for Matthew would be, “just hearing how we sound after the performance.”

Being in the band the longest, the musicians are familiar with Ms. Benkert’s teaching/practicing process. A daily session is “sight reading, rhythm scale, then concert music.” as described by Nikola.

Ms. Benkert and her students work really hard to put on show stopping performances for WMS. They are deeply appreciated at the middle school.