Next month, the music department will be dusting off their cowboy boots as they head to Nashville, Tennessee.

Brad Treiber, head band director, said while the ensemble trip will be centered around music education, it’s also just about celebrating the band in itself. He said, “If you’ve been a member of this program, you know it’s like a family, and we really look forward to building those memories and experiences by showing off the hard work that we have done,” Treiber said.

Brian Fancher, assistant band and head choir director, said the trip’s location came down to two places: Branson, Missouri or Nashville, Tennessee. “In this case, we had landed on Nashville because practically speaking it made travel more accessible, but frankly it’s also just a really cool music town,” Fancher said.

Once the location of the trip was picked, Nowak Tours Company provided a list of activities for the directors to choose from when selecting the schedule. Treiber said, “We chose the [activities] that we thought would be the most interesting and engaging to the students and also the most educationally sound, as far as music goes.”

The trip’s itinerary over the multiple-day trip includes highlight events such as going to Studio B to have their very own recording session, a tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame, a backstage tour and show at the Grand Ole Opry, a songwriting workshop, and stopping at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky on the way back home.

Freshman Allison Hawk, a member of the band, choir, and Auxiliary team, believes she and her peers will benefit greatly from the trip. She said, “Since it’s Nashville we’re going to, the country music capital of the country, I think that there will be some music-related lessons that will be learned on this trip.”

While the band and choir have taken separate trips in the past, the Nashville trip is combining both groups. Fancher said, “[This] way, we can get all of these music programs together, and there’s so much overlap and crossovers already happening between the groups, so why not merge them together?”

One of the primary reasons the music department takes these trips every few years is so students can deepen bonds and strengthen relationships with each other. Fancher said, “When you have a trip like this one, over the course of multiple days, it just compounds all of that effect and really helps to bring everyone together.”

Megan Linsky, a senior and four-year Auxiliary veteran, is excited about spending the trip with her Auxiliary teammates. “I think it’ll be a really great team-building activity for the team… it’ll be good for everyone to just strengthen our relationships with each other one last time before [us seniors] leave and help build a better team dynamic for the future,” she said.

Hawk is most looking forward to simply being able to travel. She said, “I have three younger siblings and we as a family don’t have many chances to get out and explore the country… so being able to get out and see a new place is exciting for me.”

Linsky’s deciding factor on going on the trip was determined by her being a senior. She said, “It’s my last year and it’s just like… one last little hurrah, you know? Figured it’d be fun and worthwhile.”

As for the future, the next music department trip is already being booked. “If all goes according to plan as of right now, we are looking at going back to Disney World, just as we did two school years ago,” Treiber said.