Decatur High School Bands

Wind Ensemble

Wind Ensemble is the highest- level instrumental ensemble at Decatur High School.  Membership is based on their Band Placement Audition in March of the previous year.  Wind Ensemble plays a combination of Grade V and VI – with VI being the most difficult - music throughout the year based on the Georgia Music Educator’s Association rubric of difficulty.  Students must audition into Wind Ensemble as a prerequisite to take IB Music.  The objectives of the class is to develop a greater appreciation of music, to develop individual performance growth specific to each instrument, to develop ensemble performance awareness of such musical elements, to develop an understanding of music history and its many periods, and to develop extrinsic qualities such as discipline, responsibility and teamwork.  The Wind Ensemble performs at least 5 concerts a year: Fall, Winter, Large Group Performance Evaluation, Spring and Graduation. 

Symphonic Band

Symphonic Band is the second highest-level instrumental ensemble at Decatur High School.  Membership is based on their Band Placement Audition in March of the previous year.  Symphonic Band plays a combination of Grade IV and V music throughout the year based on the Georgia Music Educator’s Association rubric of difficulty.  The objectives of the class is to develop a greater appreciation of music, to develop individual performance growth specific to each instrument, to develop ensemble performance awareness of such musical elements, to develop an understanding of music history and its many periods, and to develop extrinsic qualities such as discipline, responsibility and teamwork.  The Symphonic Band performs at least 5 concerts a year: Fall, Winter, Large Group Performance Evaluation, Spring and Graduation. 

Concert Band

Concert Band is an intermediate instrumental ensemble at Decatur High School.  Brass and Woodwind players do not have to audition to be placed in Concert Band.  Concert Band plays a combination of Grade III and IV music throughout the year based on the Georgia Music Educator’s Association rubric of difficulty.  The objectives of the class is to develop a greater appreciation of music, to develop individual performance growth specific to each instrument, to develop ensemble performance awareness of such musical elements, to develop an understanding of music history and its many periods, and to develop extrinsic qualities such as discipline, responsibility and teamwork.  The Concert Band performs at least 4 concerts a year: Winter, Large Group Performance Evaluation, Spring and Graduation. 

Percussion Ensemble

Percussion Ensemble is an intermediate instrumental ensemble at Decatur High School.  Percussion players do not have to audition to be placed in Percussion Ensemble.  The main focus of this class is to build upon fundamentals for membranophones and idiophones. The percussion ensemble performs at least 3 times a year: Fall, Winter, and Spring. 

Marching Band

Marching Band is a co-curricular activity in the Fall.  The marching band supports the football team as well as other athletic events.  We also compete against other marching bands in the Southeast.  Students learn around 90 pages of drill and 10 minutes worth of music.  You must take a band course in order to participate in marching band with the exclusion of Color Guard. The Marching Band promotes school spirit and camaraderie within the scholastic environment.