Spring 2009
With Heads Held High…
IHM School Band celebrates its 25th anniversary this academic year. Some highlights have marked the event with unforgettable memories. The most exciting of these was marching down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Saint Patrick’s Day. This by far was the most impressive event the Band has participated in. Boarding the bus early in the morning, the students arrived at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in the Bronx for Mass celebrated by Father Miara in the Tridentine Rite. This set the stage for the day. They then waited on 48th Street for the parade to reach their contingent.
It was a glorious day and the Band looked its best as it marched among some of the best bagpipers in the world. It was also the grand debut for the “color guards” who entertained the crowds with their gun routines.
This year also commemorated the 20th year of our participation in the Boston Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. There the Band led the parade followed by a float carrying Saint Patrick played this year by Oliver McMahon who waved blessings to the crowd as he stood surrounded by second graders dressed as shamrocks.
On Friday May 8, the Band celebrated its anniversary with a stupendous concert held in Nashoba High School auditorium. The enthusiastic audience enjoyed a program of 17 compositions from Sousa to Mozart. One of the exciting features was a special arrangement of the music score from the “Passion of the Christ.” David Lasky, a widely acclaimed composer and performer from Saint Cecilia’s Church in Leominster, arranged this piece to commemorate the occasion. It was accompanied by a slide presentation with scenes from the movie. A DVD will soon be available…so the memories continue.
IHM is proud to have marched for 25 years in Our Lady’s honor and has now survived as the only Catholic school in Massachusetts with a marching band. Besides that, they may be the best Catholic High School marching band in all of New England for competition parades. Over the years they have competed 45 times, placing first in 27, second in 12 and only 3 in third.
The band keeps alive the Catholic presence and discipline in 10 parades every year and several concerts and charitable benefits. The esprit de corps of the Band is centered on Saint Louis de Montfort’s spirituality and for that very reason they hope to continue to be “a light in the world” by doing it all for “Jesus through Mary.”