Preparing for Disney: Marching in Magic Kingdom

The North Harford band students have been preparing for a experience of a lifetime, performing and showing their skills in Orlando, Florida on March 24 through March 26.

Band director Mr. John Wojciechowski explains that he’s most excited to see many students experience “a variety of firsts, including “first plane rides, first time in Disney, first time leaving the state of Maryland,” and many others.

This will be Wojciechowski’s second time taking band students to perform in Florida, after previously traveling there with Edgewood High School.  

Along with positives of the experience, there are always negatives, according to the educator.  Wojciechowski says there is some “stress,” because of the change in scenery and all of the tasks at hand. He added that already having people out of their comfort zones makes performing more challenging and could lead to more mistakes during the performance.  Wojciechowski said his main goal was “picking easy music that will be easier to “perfect” so that his musicians would have less difficulty staying on task.

Sophomore Elena Schell says she is looking forward to going to Florida, adding it’s cool to be able to “do something you love, somewhere you love.” She added that school isn’t always the greatest and having an opportunity like this makes it much better. Being able to have such an experience during high school is amazing and she is looking forward to it.

Schell adds that because of the amount of people performing it may be hard to “follow the tempo” and for “everyone to be on the same page.”  Preparing for the performance means showing up to class and doing as told by Mr. Wojciechowski which will help allow for less mistakes and more success, according to the sophomore.

While the trip centers on performing, there will be some time for students to explore Disney. Schell hopes to go to the surrounding parks, mainly Epcot since she has never been there before. Also being around friends will make the trip that much more memorable.