Represent!

As you, by now, hopefully know, I was VERY involved in the band program in high school (Charles A. Sprague High School). I had a great time and miss it quite a bit. Today I found something online that made something I already cherished even more valuable. At the beginning of this year my director submitted all of our recordings from my senior year to the National Grammy Foundation. Guess what.

Sprague won a Grammy.

14 schools in the nation won Grammys in three different categories:

1) Enterprise Award -- under served music programs earn grants based on need
2) Gibson Grant -- for schools with outstanding piano and guitar programs
3) Signature Schools -- for public high schools with outstanding music programs.

Only 8 schools are awarded the signature award. The top three are awarded the gold level, with the best gold level school winning the grand prize.

We won a Grammy!

Now, not only did we win a Grammy, but look at this chart (please click to enlarge):



WHAT!? TWO SCHOOLS FROM SALEM OREGON!? Not just from Salem, but from the same school district. South Salem is our rival school and we take the fight to the big leagues, we fight over Grammys! People ask me "If your high school had such a good band, why didn't you ever win state?"

Because the other schools in my state are also freaking good at music, note that 3 of the 14 schools are from Oregon.

This puts me in a VERY good mood, knowing that music I was playing was recorded, submitted, and worthy of a Grammy. What did we submit? Here are the recordings, enjoy!

La Fiesta Pacifico

Homage to Machaut

Giannini