Quinn’s Middle School Band Director, David Blake, passed away in November at the young age of 55. He had been the Band Director at the middle school for 20+ years and his wife, Liz, is the orchestra (strings) director at the middle school and high school. They are both very much loved in the local music community.

An all-call went out for musicians to play in his Celebration of Life (COL) and Quinn quickly raised his hand. The COL was held at the middle school on Sunday with about 85 musicians of all ages, including all the local school band directors.

It was a celebration but also lots of tears from his friends of many years. We learned that Mr. Blake loved golf, music, the great outdoors, BBQ, wine, whiskey, and the University and Tennessee. The COL ended with a raucous version of Rocky Top, which is UT’s unofficial fight song.

The high school bands are travelling to a couple of music festivals where they will be adjudicated. Last night was a Festival Preview Concert so that they could practice the set on their home turf. The Wind Orchestra will have their first Festival on Friday, March 3 at Cal State Fullerton. I am going along as a chaperone so I will get to experience my first festival too.

As usual, they sounded great. Here are the 3 performances.