BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Union County High School Band Director Kelly Dorsey described her band’s two-week camp as tremendous.
“The kids are really, really excited,” she said on the camp’s last day. “They are completely bought in and they have huge hearts. Just exceptional people, not just students, just great people.”
Dorsey, who is beginning her 23rd year leading the band after 13 years at Bell High School, added that this year’s halftime show features the Blues Brothers.
“Most of them didn’t know anything about the Blues Brothers,” she said. “Their parents were more excited than they were until I introduced the music to them.”
Dorsey said she hopes to build on the band’s success from last year, grading straight superiors all year long and earning the Otto J. Kraushaar Award from the Florida Bandmasters Association. The Otto J. Kraushaar Award is the highest award any band can receive in the State of Florida.
Dorsey said her job goes well beyond training musicians.
“I told them this week is not just about learning how to be a marching band,” she said. “I’m training leaders. I’m training them how to be good adults and be successful.”
Dorsey credited her administrative team of Assistant Director Pam Higginbotham, Tigerette Instructor Amanda Barlow, Percussion Instructor Bryce Henson, and Middle School and Assistant Marching Band Director Michael Murphy for the group’s success.
She also said the band’s student leaders are respected by the group.
“This band celebrates each other,” she said. “They’re very non-judgmental. Our rookies just fit right in, and they’re supportive. That’s the culture I like and they go faster, so they’re playing stuff that they probably shouldn’t be able to play.”
