STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE / 33
Stillwater Homeschool Band and Strings presents Holiday Concert
PHOTO by KIM STRECKER / STRECKER IMAGES
Inside a large room at Hillcrest Baptist Church the Stillwater Homeschool Band and Strings rehearsed for its Holiday Concert, which will be performed at 1 p. m. Dec. 6 at the Winfrey D. Houston Theater in the Stillwater Community Center.
ne, two, three, four, and go!” band director Denise Kenna called out.
At times, Kenna encouraged the band or paused to explain a musical term as students rehearsed favorite holiday songs. Inside a large room at Hillcrest Baptist Church the Stillwater Homes-
“ Ochool Band and Strings rehearsed for its Holiday Concert, which will be
performed at 1 p. m. Dec. 6 at the Winfrey D. Houston Theater in the Stillwater Community Center. For Kenna, teaching music has been a passion for 40 years. She received her bachelors in music education from the University of Kansas and her masters in music education from the University of Oklahoma. In addition to teaching private music lessons, she was a band director for 35 years in public schools and five years at Stillwater Christian School.
For 12 years, she’ s helped shape Stillwater’ s Homeschool Band, adding strings in the past eight years.
“ Kids show up, they want to do music and we just play our little hearts out,” Kenna said.“ They’ re the nicest, hard-working group of families.”
The Stillwater Homeschool Band and Strings is under the umbrella of Heartland Homeschool Band and Strings Foundation in Oklahoma City. The foundation supports the Oklahoma Homeschool Bands and Strings program( founded by former band director Tom Rye), which has satellite programs in Tulsa, Owasso, Jenks, Shawnee, Yukon and Moore, in addition to locations in Texas and Colorado.
Oklahoma City-based director Ben Fast, now the president at the foundation, started the Stillwater program more than 20 years ago. In 2014, he handed the program over to Kenna.
More than 90 students are involved in the band, strings and orchestra, representing 40 families from Stillwater, Ponca City, Enid, Guthrie, Mulhall-Orlando, Yale, Glencoe, Perkins and Ripley.
That doesn’ t mean Kenna wouldn’ t accept more students in the band.
“ We could always use more students. There’ s never enough kids,” Kenna said.
The program has grown through word-of-mouth, area churches and friends of the band. Public school students are also welcome to join.
“ It’ s a little tricky, because( public school students) don’ t get to rehearse,
Denise Kenna leads students at the Holiday Concert rehearsal( Photo by Jessica Marshall)
STILLWATER OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE / 33