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Robin Kramer
Mountain View High School Music Director
robin.kramer@mvla.net

MVHS Inspires Another Generation of Students

October 17, 2006

It's hard not to be impressed when a 180-member marching band, complete with color guard members twirling bright flags, marches onto your school. Students at Oak Elementary School, Blach Intermediate School, Graham Intermediate School, and Crittenden Intermediate School all felt the excitement of music and dance when the Mountain View High School Spartan Marching Band performed at their campuses on October 17.

Besides getting to watch and hear the show ("We really liked the music because it was so loud," wrote one Oak Elementary kindergarten class afterward), students are often inspired to join the group themselves. To demonstrate, at each middle school Mountain View Music Director Robin Kramer asked MVHS students who had been at that school to come forward and say their names. At Blach Intermediate School, 94 students out of the 186-member band stepped into line, delighting Blach Music Director Vivian McNulty.

The color guard members are particularly popular as they throw flags high above childrens' heads. Members of the Room 1 Kindergarten classes at Oak School wrote to the guard afterward: "The color girls were really cool. A lot of us would like to be on the team." Students in the ensemble are as inspired as the children who listen. "I went to Oak and can still remember when Mountain View visited us," says Tina Hsu, a senior at Mountain View this year. "It was so exciting. It's hard to believe that I am now being looked up to by so many little kids." Guard Alicia Noble, also a senior, agreed. Although performing four times in one day was "exhausting," she said, "it was worth it. Seeing hundred of kids smiling ear to ear is great." 

Right-click on any image below to download the full-sized photo.

MVHS Spartan Marching Band color guard members twirl flags and guns during a performance at Blach Intermediate School.	Color guard members dance the salsa during the MVHS Spartan Marching Band's performance of "Tsunami" at Blach Intermediate School.
Members of the MVHS Spartan Marching Band color guard and pit crew show Blach Intermediate School students how to sing the school pep song as the band plays.	MVHS Music Director Robin Kramer asks former Blach students to say their names as Blach Intermediate School Music Director Vivian McNulty looks on.

PRESS BRIEFS ARCHIVE, 2005-2006