Little kids like big music in Oak Harbor

Patrick Manuel’s eighth grade marching band marched to Der Kinderhuis Montessori school Thursday afternoon to surprise the little kids with some big sound. It wasn’t the first time the band made the merry march.

By Michelle Beahm • April 25, 2014 6:16 pm
Baritone saxophonist Andrew Eaton and the rest of the eighth grade marching band from Oak Harbor Middle School head to the Der Kinderhuis Montessori Thursday to surprise the preschool students for the second year in a row.
Baritone saxophonist Andrew Eaton and the rest of the eighth grade marching band from Oak Harbor Middle School head to the Der Kinderhuis Montessori Thursday to surprise the preschool students for the second year in a row.

Patrick Manuel’s eighth grade marching band marched to Der Kinderhuis Montessori school Thursday afternoon to surprise the little kids with some big sound.

It wasn’t the first time the band made the merry march.

Manuel, the band teacher at Oak Harbor Middle School, decided to take the band over to the school to surprise his son, Alexander, who was attending Montessori at the time.

“He really loved it and his friends loved seeing the marching band,” Manuel said, “so we decided to do it again this year.”

Then on Friday, the combined seventh and eighth grade marching band trooped through the halls of their school and then to Broad View Elementary School, something Manuel has been doing with the marching band for five years.

“This is just kind of to inspire the elementary school kids,” Manuel said.

Manuel said that this is a way to advertise the band programs at the middle school for the elementary school kids, and that he does this for the elementary students to get them “jazzed about the marching band.”