Thanks to budget cuts that almost always start in the Art and Music departments, walking through the halls at some schools you never hear any music. Happily, that is not the case at Palestine High School anymore.

At Palestine High School there is now a band director.  His name is Mr. Bouslog, and although he could not start until after Labor day, that didn’t kept members of Band from practicing in class on the school days before he arrived. Band students are enjoying Mr. Bouslog, even though they are still a little sad that Mr. Downes is not here this year.

Even though the band is small with only five musicians, they still make a big sound. The band still plans to participate in the Homecoming parade and the Spooktacular parade in Oblong this year, including the junior high band students as well.

Some of last year’s Band students decided not to come back to Band for different reasons, but the ones who decided to stay in Band could be called the faithful five because even in the weeks prior to school starting, when there was not a band director, some could be found practicing instruments. 

Band class is never boring.  During a recent class, as Mr. Bouslog handed out new music to students, everyone began to smell tomatoes.  Unbeknownst to Mr. Bouslog, the new music had come from a backpack that was filled with tomatoes. They all had a laugh until they realized that some of the music was original copies that were now stained with tomato juice! 

Students think that Mr. Bouslog will be a good change for the band.  The only problem they have faced is that Mr. Bouslog is still technically retired, so he can only teach 120 day of the school year. As a result, every Friday, the band has a substitute teacher.