Westbrook Intermediate School has just over 1000 students. We are located in the NASA area on the south side of Houston, Texas. Many of our parents work in the petrochemical industry as well as in arospace. We enjoy great parental support. We like "helicopter" parents.

We start our children in 6th grade homogeneus classes. Euphonium meets with tuba, oboe with trumpet, and bassoon with saxophone. We are able to split trumpet and clarinet into two classes (advanced and regular). Our school is on a traditional schedule with children comming to band class every day.

There are over 300 children in the Westbrook band program. We have three 7th and 8th grade "performing" bands. (We do very little performing with our beginners.) Children are placed in one of our performing bands by audition.

In addition to band we have a robust string program, choir, theater, and visual art. There are three band directors who have no assignments other than band. Our string teacher is full-time. Choir is half-day, theater is full-time, and we have two full-time art teachers.

The attached recordings are of our advanced 7th and 8th grade band. There are a couple of U-Tube videos of us performing this music and other pieces as well. The U-Tubes may not be the same performance as the attached mp3s. Students and or parents put the videos on U-Tube.

We enjoy performing sophisticated music. We usually learn about 20 pieces of music with our ensemble each year. Children learn solos, small ensembles, and all-region audition music too. Our contest program includes Circus Bee, On a Hymnsong of Phillip Bliss, and Molly on the Shore this year. (Exceptional clarinets this year.)

While it is a tremendous honor to work with our children I feel a tremendous responsibility to do right by them. Because they can perform advanced liturature I feel we should. I have high expectations for my children. They love to do well. I try to incorporate humor in my teaching as much as possible. We have a great time!