Bigger and better band performs to standing-room-only crowd

Jan 17, 2020

When Caitlin Francese first started teaching music, band, and chorus at Wareham Middle School in 2017, the band was composed of only six students who practiced after school when they could.

Now, there are 84 fifth, sixth, and seventh graders in band, along with 45 students in the chorus -- that’s about a quarter of all the students in the school.

Instead of having to meet after school, both the fifth grade band and the combined sixth and seventh grade band meet for a full 57 minute period each day, allowing the students to bond and rapidly improve their skills.

The students showed off their talents at their winter concert on Jan. 16, playing songs they had learned throughout the year to highlight their progress.

The chorus sang three songs, including a Disney villains medley, that highlighted the skills the 45 students are working on when they meet twice a week after school.

Francese said she’s not sure exactly why the program has grown so rapidly, but thinks her success is due partly to the accepting atmosphere she cultivates in her classroom.

She tells the students that the band is a family, so they can count on each other to have their backs.

“It’s at about this point in the year that they start to really be comfortable being themselves here,” Francese said. In her classroom, she said, students feel comfortable taking off the “mask” they wear throughout the day, and can be comfortable being sad or upset. “In this room, all 130 students that I have in band and chorus can genuinely be themselves.”

That ease with her students was readily apparent during the concert, as she offered easygoing encouragement and reminders -- “Percussion, I love you, but you’re too loud” -- between songs.