Director of Instrumental Music –

Hamilton High School

Charger Band Program

Mr. Waite is very passionate about and proud of his development of the Hamilton Charger Band program. He has enjoyed sharing his enthusiasm and passion for music with a group of young people that has grown from 68 members when he started in 2001 to as many as 145 in recent years. The band has come to represent a large, visible, and highly disciplined part of the school community and to elicit community pride as well as serving as a regional draw for families.

At HHS Mr. Waite directs the Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensemble 1, Jazz Ensemble 2, Jazz Combo, the Charger Marching Band and Pep band. He also coaches numerous chamber ensembles throughout the year.

The performances of the Charger Bands at community events, concerts, competitions, parades, and sporting events adds a great deal to the Hamilton School District community and supports the emotional growth and academic achievement of young men and women in the district.

Symphonic Bands

The Charger Symphonic Bands are the foundations of the instrumental music program at HHS where they performs three yearly concerts. Here students are taught and demonstrate the fundamentals of performing on their instruments with sound technique and musicality. These ensembles are featured during the travels of the HHS band program and have most recently received ratings of 1 (Superior) at Large Group festivals and took 2nd place at the International Festival of Music in New York City in April 2013.

Charger Marching Band

The Charger Marching Band has a history as old as the school itself and is the most visible part of the Charger Bands Program. Upon Mr. Waite’s arrival from a competitive marching environment in New Mexico, where his bands won two consecutive state championships, he re-started the competitive marching program at HHS. In the years since, the program has grown both in size as well as quality without being prohibitively time or resource consuming. Mr. Waite is most proud of his students’ efficiency of effort allowing them to be competitive on the field with much less time and money invested than is typical for the activity. The Charger Marching Band has placed 4th at the Wisconsin State Marching Band Championships in three of the last seven years, finishing in the top 10 overall in Wisconsin in those years as well as receiving several caption awards and 1st place awards at regional shows.

Video – UW-Whitewater State Competition on October 19, 2013-Video by Cori Eickhoff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buT3Bvc-S80

Pep Band

Pep Band is the spirit arm of the Charger Band program and performs at eight home games each season in addition to home play-off games. The group also occasionally performs at other events as requested, including Relay For Life, FIRST’s Wisconsin Regional Robotics Competition and Milwaukee radio’s 102.9 The Hog.

Jazz Band

Mr. Waite was first drawn into music seriously because of his involvement with the jazz program at New Berlin Eisenhower High School (Wisconsin) under the direction of Mr. Dale Bigus. Mr. Waite’s passion and enthusiasm for jazz have driven him to build the all-volunteer program up to two full jazz ensembles which meet for an hour each week plus jazz combo offerings. Most recently, HHS Jazz Ensemble 1 won 2nd place at the International Festival of Music in New York, NY in April, 2013 and gave fine performances in the community and school as well as at the 2014 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire JazzFest, featuring Byron Stripling and Wycliffe Gordon.

WSMA Solo & Ensemble Festival
The cornerstone of HHS band students’ educational year, Solo-Ensemble festival is the biggest opportunity students have to make significant individual improvement. Mr. Waite helps to select music for and coaches students in solo and chamber ensemble settings culminating in a judged performance. HHS had 63 band students in more than 30 different events advancing to the state competition in 2014.

Theater department

Each year, Mr. Waite and the Hamilton Charger Band program provide the live, student-performed music for the HHS Theater department’s musical productions of well known Broadway shows. This provides a great opportunity for music students to perform in an
advanced setting that is integrated with other art forms.

Recent shows include the beloved musical “Fiddler on the Roof”; recent Tony Award-winner “Curtains”; “Guys and Dolls”; “Beauty and the Beast” and “Little Shop of Horrors”.

Band Trip to New York April 2-7, 2013

Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTO5Ndol8Pk&feature=youtu.be

About the Hamilton High School Charger Band Program

Learn more: http://chargerband.weebly.com/