ShawneeDispatch.com

Vincent Jones struggled last year when he played the trumpet at Ray Marsh Elementary School in Shawnee.

"There was the concert that I went to last year, and I couldn't play the notes really," the sixth-grader said.

But now the notes are coming easier for Vincent after a week with the Shawnee Mission Summer Band Blast at Hocker Grove Middle School.

"I wasn't as good as I am now," he said. "I've learned a lot more notes since I've been here."

That's what the program is about, said Debbie Allen, performing arts resource specialist for Shawnee Mission USD 512.

"For our elementary kids, it's really an opportunity to play in a balanced group that includes more instrument types," she said.

Students who just finished fifth or sixth grade may attend the weeklong camp for a fee. This year, 61 students from 21 Shawnee Mission elementary schools participated.

Allen and four elementary school band directors led the program, and each directed a song that the students played during their final concert Friday.

For the first hour, the band practiced together as a group. Specialists worked with each instrument group during the second hour when the band separated and went into different practice rooms. The band came back together again for the third hour of play.

Some students receive recommendations from their band directors to attend the program to catch up on their playing skills if they are behind, Allen said.

"They go to band camp and get that 15 hours of instruction that they might need," she said.

But others don't need the extra practice to catch up, they just like to play, Allen said.

Beckett McQuitty, who will be going into sixth grade at Rosehill Elementary School in Lenexa, is one of those students.

"I was in band this year, and I just thought it would be fun to come here because we get to keep doing it during the summer," he said.

At the final concert Friday, the students played several songs to showcase what they learned to their parents, with a finale of "Teenage Muted Ninja Drummers," where the percussion section wore headbands resembling the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.