Whether you are a fan of music or not if you are CCHS student you have most likely heard the band.

In CCHS there are five types of bands: Percussion Ensemble, Jazz Band, Pep Band, Concert Band, and Marching Band.

Percussion is taken during fourth hour and all instruments, like timpani, snare drums, base drums and marimbas, are percussion based. In Percussion Ensemble the students play song like “Para Rafa” by Lalo Davila and “Ritual Of  The Tribe” by Chris Brooks.

Jazz band is an early bird class where the students focus on jazz music and go to jazz competitions. Although when it started it use to be an after school class and it was basically lessons on Jazz. Some of the Jazz music played in CCHS is “My Dear” by Andrew Neu and “Things Ain’t What They Use To Be” by Mercer Ellington.

For Pep Band, Concert Band, and Marching Band, song are played by the students in fifth and sixth hour classes. Pep band consist of short styled songs like, “Runaway Baby” by Bruno Mars and “Rock and Roll Pt. 2” by Gary Glitter, played for Sports games like football and basketball. Concert Band is focused on second semester and is played for contests and school functions for parents, teachers, and students. The students play songs such as “Semper Fidelis” which is a Sousa song and “I Am” by Andrew Boysen Jr. Marching Band is during the summer and first semester. The students who travel to play and compete are a part of the competitive band class which is sixth hour. They play typical marching songs on the field and perform choreographed formations that follow along with the music. The non-competitive 5th hour band joins the competitive band during football games for pregame.

With the diversity between the bands, the students have their favorites.

Junior Tallis Anz favors Jazz because the music is laid back and in his words “jazzy”. Senior Tuba player Carson Chaney likes Concert Band because of how technical it can get. Senior John Patton’s favorite kind of band is Pep band because of the social aspect of it and feeling like he is apart of the game. He also likes that he likes that he can play his trumpet with extreme force. Senior flutist Renea Pace likes Marching Band because of all the health benefits and to be able to hang out with friends. Senior Percussionist Latia Smith loves Percussion Ensemble because she believes its the best section and it’s great having a close knit group of friends. Also she like that there is great variety of different types of percussion instruments.

All of these various classes are taught by director, Mr. Townsend. Townsend “puts [my] best effort into all the bands” and when he is directing a specific kind band he’s “directing like it’s [my] favorite at the moment.” He has lead the band into being one of the top three bands in the state consecutively for the past nine years. Even though people don’t think of band as sport IHSA tracks our wins like any other sport, and we are doing the best in the school!