NEW ORLEANS — A band is made of different sections all trying to achieve a unified sound.
“So you hear all the little bits. You hear the lower brass sections, the brass, the woodwinds, like you’re listening for everything,” said Judaea DoQui, a 10th-grade flutist.
At St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans, that sound is all girl power.
“To see an all-girls school, Black all-girls school, and no boys at all. It’s pretty good,” said Ja’Leah Gilbert, a 7th grader said of the band’s sound.
From the sousaphone to percussion, the tone of this 40-member all-girls band is all business. Practice makes perfect; after school, five days a week.
“It’s more or less dedication to me. This is my dedication. This is where I put my time in most,” DoQui said.
In just 10th grade, DoQui is already a drum major. She said her favorite part of band is learning new music, no matter how challenging.
“It’s like when you’re playing with a marching instrument, it’s a louder sound, it’s like more of an.. ‘ah’”, she emphasized, “Whereas when you’re playing in concert, it’s more of an elegant, relaxed type of music.”
And march they do. This year, the band marched in eight carnival parades, along with instrumentalists as young as fourth grade.
“Parades from back to back,” Maelyn Leonard said. She’s a clarinetist in the ninth grade. She says she enjoys every step.
“I do, I love it. It’s my favorite time of the year,” she said.
And at the practices in between, you can hear the sounds of big goals echoing through the hallway.
In only seventh grade, Gilbert already knows where she’d like to go to college.
“I want to go to Southern University and play,” she said. “They march high. They’re just amazing.”
They’re finding inspiration to play better and learn more from big-time entertainers. Leonard’s favorite is Beyonce.
“She’s just so powerful and I just love Black queens,” she said.
For DoQui, there’s a whole list of favorite entertainers.
She said, “Beyonce, Doja Cat, Lizzo… I listen to some male artists as well.”
Lizzo, a symbol for women’s empowerment, plays the flute just like her.
“I found that out like, as I was learning. I was on flute and I was watching TV one day, and my mom was like, look! There’s Lizzo playing the flute! I was like, really,” she said.
There’s representation on the biggest stages. And in their band room in New Orleans East, each section is following the tune to a common goal.
“I feel like you have to have that passion in you. Maybe not a lot, but if you have that passion, you like what you do, stick with it… don’t give it up. Because you have a talent for it,” DoQui said.
A group of young women who came to play, finding their sound as one.
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