Carnival of Soul

Every year, the entire St. Luke’s community looks forward to the annual Blues Band. It’s not every day you see students jamming away with their teachers. Somehow the magic of Blues Band erases roles and barriers and leaves room for little else but music.

“It was amazing,” said Upper School band teacher Peter Valera. “I get emotional thinking about it. To see how the kids’ confidence and musicianship grows…it’s beautiful.”

Blues Band began 30 years ago and has evolved to include many different music genres — but the Blues Band moniker remains. Long-time band teacher Bob Leinbach (formerly of the band Orleans) was lured out of retirement by the siren call of the Blues Band.

“I don’t know of another school that does anything quite like this,” said Valera. He and Middle School band teacher Maggie Lauer not only produced the show but were part of the magic as Valera lit up (literally) the stage with his saxophone and Lauer demonstrated how one rocks out with a flute.

Only at St. Luke’s will you find an experience like Blues Band and only at St. Luke’s would a group of middle school teachers, a theater director, and a world language chair form and perform as a “boy band” to the shock and joy of their students. —Above & Beyond.

Watch the recorded live stream of the concert here: https://livestream.com/stlukes/bluesband/videos/199204026.