INTERVIEW: Joel Vinson, Director of Bands at Dighton High School

Bowen Boyack of KBN: What inspired your Musical Selections this year?

Joel Vinson: Our show this year was titled To the Stars, and was a selection of space themed music. We performed Thus Spake Zarathustra, Flight to the Planet Zentaur, Chorle from Jupiter and I Am the Doctor. My inspiration for our theme came from our school being named a Gemini 1 school for the state's education redesign program. I felt it would be poignant for my students and our school.

BB: What Marching Competitions and festivals did you and your band go to this marching season?

JV: We performed at the Kansas State Fair, the Central States Marching Festival, and the High Plains Marching Festival.

BB: Tell me about the upcoming trips you will be taking within the next 3-4 years.

JV: At this time I haven't thought too far ahead to the upcoming years too much. We do plan to take a band trip next year, probably a smallish trip to somewhere nearby. We definitely plan to return to a bowl game in 3-4 years. We performed at the Alamo Bowl last year (2017-2018).

BB: What Concert Band repertoire are you playing this year? When are your upcoming performances?

JV: As you know, it is still early into concert season. This year, for the first time at DHS, I have combined our junior high and high school bands. So at this moment we are focusing on Junior High league festival coming up in February. I try to find a variety of repertoire that is both educational and fun. I really like to find pieces by John Edmondson, Anne McGinty, Michael Sweeney and various others. For the rest of this season we have junior high league festival coming up in February, along with state large group in April, and regional music in March. We will close out our school year with our 5-12 spring band concert.

BB: Looking forward to 2019, any plans you would like to share?

JV: At this time the only thing I know for sure is that we will be performing a superhero themed show for marching band. I'm in the process of locking down which pieces we will perform and what our title will be.

Best of luck to the DHS Bands this year and in the upcoming years.