JPSO Band of Excellence Puts On a Great Show At Annual Summer Concert To celebrate their fourth annual Summer Concert, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Band of Excellence performed like a college-level marching band. They dazzled with their footwork and filled the air with beautiful music. “I am so proud of them,” said Hezekiah Brinson, director of the band. “We wanted to give them a taste of college and they absorbed it and exceeded our expectations.” Teaching the band advanced maneuvers was Nathan Haymer, Assistant Director of the Southern University Jaguar Marching Band. “When you consider that some of our youngest boys and girls at the Band of Excellence are in middle school or just starting high school, it was an astounding performance,” said Haymer. “We really challenged them and they rose to the challenge. I’m sure their families are incredibly proud of them and they should be.” The JPSO Band of Excellence was created four years ago by Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand. An amateur musician in his own right, Sheriff Normand believes there are thousands of talented boys and girls in Jefferson Parish and the metro area who never fully develop their musical potential for lack of practice time, instruments and teaching. Raising hundreds of thousands of dollars from private sources, Sheriff Normand hired a staff headed by Mr. Brinson, provided the musical instruments and a building on the JPSO campus on the West Bank where the Band of Excellence practices. Sheriff Normand intended the JPSO Band of Excellence as a supplement to the outstanding high school bands in Jefferson Parish and the region. While most of the members of the Band of Excellence are from Jefferson Parish, Sheriff Normand has said that the band is open to any boy or girl from the region who wants to improve their musical talents. Members of the Band of Excellence range from middle school to high school seniors. So far, in just under four years, 26 members of the Band of Excellence have won scholarships from university marching bands. Haymer, who works with one of the nation’s best university marching bands at Southern in Baton Rouge, says there are several excellent prospects for university marching band scholarships on the current Band of Excellence. “Sheriff Normand deserves a tremendous ovation for what he has done,” says Haymer. “These boys and girls have really responded to our teaching. And they have come together as a family which is a wonderful thing. You can feel the joy that binds all those involved in the JPSO Band of Excellence as a very special family.”
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 13:06:42 +0000