History of the Mona Shores Band Program
The Mona Shores Band strives to be a place for all students to be able to find joy in making music together to support their mental, emotional and physical health, to deepen their relationships with each other and to make our community a better place. Our mission is to maintain a healthy balance between excellence in music making and supporting students as they also focus on family, academics, athletics and college and career readiness.
Mona Shores Public Schools was founded in 1962 when six contiguous K-8 school districts in the southern portion of Muskegon county consolidated into one K-12 district. During the 1960's, 70's and 80's, the band grew rapidly. They represented our community on several international tours--a tradition still ongoing to this day.
In the 1990's, the band changed its focus to competitive marching band and had considerable success in the Michigan Competing Bands Association as well as in Bands of America. The Wind Ensemble performed at the Michigan Music Conference in 1993 and 1998. The jazz program also flourished during this time, culminating in performances with Arturo Sandoval and Victor Wooten.
In the 2000's, the band pivoted away from competitive marching band and instead invested time and resources into becoming a comprehensive music program. We are so grateful to our district leadership and our band parents' association for investing money and energy in the instruction and support of our students, funding section instruction and private lessons for our students. We are also proud to continue our commitment to supporting composers in their work to create new pieces for middle and high school bands.
Presently, the Sailor Band is part of a comprehensive music department instructing over 500 students a year in band, choir, orchestra, AP music theory, music technology, ukulele and guitar. The performing arts department at Mona Shores High School is proud to be represented by over 40% of our total student population and our district has been named a "Best Community for Music Education" by NAMM for the last seven consecutive years. The Mona Shores Band has represented our community with performances in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Canada, England, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Scandinavia, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Ireland and China.
We are grateful to have an administrative team and school board in Mona Shores that truly values arts' education, including it in our district's mission statement for the last decade. They have supported us in spirit as well as financially to create a culture of creation and collaboration in Mona Shores, from music, to the visual arts, broadcasting, journalism, creative writing and speech.