Hey, everybody. I'm Connor. That's Doug, and this
is the Bethel School District presents podcast, and
we've got an amazing show free you this
week. I'm gonna head over to Bethel High
school to speak with several members of the
Bison band as well as 1 of their
band directors, and they're gonna give me some
big news about the happenings there next year.
That's gonna be amazing Connor before you pack
up the recording equipment and head over there.
I've got a question for you. Rumor has
it you're a well traveled individual. Is that?
You betcha. So you know you've seen this
great world that we live in. Can you
tell me what is the happiest
country in the entire world. They do studies
on this? Happiest country. Well, I'm gonna go
with my people,
the people of Denmark. That's my guess. You're
actually close Finland, which is the current reigning
happiest country in the world does trade places
with the Scandinavian
countries kinda year to year, something about that
Northern European climate just generates happiness
just like you do here.
That's what we're all about. In the podcast
studio every single week, but Connor, how well
do you know this great
country? How many states have you been to
in these wonderful 50 states? Boy. Let me
let me do a quick mental
traveling arithmetic. 1234.
That's again. And then carry the 04:12.
12, not it's a say no. Loud sounds,
but that... It kind... You're not even at
13 original colonies level of Yeah. Traveling this
great country. But in your defense, you're West
Coast boy. I am I am an East
Coast boy, so I had a lot more
access to a lot more states because there's
a... Plenty of them. I'm gonna say the
way you're talking, I'm gonna say you've been
to all 50 plus Puerto To Rico.
Well, I wish I had 50 would be
a great answer, especially for all the trash
I'm talking for you only visiting 12. I've
been to 20 eighth... States. But like I
said, grew up on the East coast a
little easier to get from state to state
to state. Yeah. I feel like that honestly
doesn't count from
Delaware and a half hampshire. I mean, it's
basically they both could fit in the county.
I'm from in Montana. So I'm gonna give
you half credit, which means we're equal the
That's where I like. That sounds fantastic. So
we know the happiest country in the world
is Finland currently reigning.
What do you think the happiest?
State is connor. I mean, to me, this
should be obvious that it's Hawaii? Because why
would you not be happy
living in Hawaii. So I'm gonna say Hawaii.
That's actually a great answer, And I I
should give you some stipulation around this before
you answer
almost correctly. You actually hit the number 2
on this list. This info comes to us
from wallet hub, and they evaluated the states
on emotional and physical well being,
work environment and community and environment. And Hawaii
scores very high, actually number 1 in emotional
and physical well being but they're not number
1 overall. Believe it or not the number
1 happiest state in the United States is
Utah.
Utah. Utah. Number 1 in work environment, number
1 in community and environment, and number 16
in emotional and physical well being. So, congrats
the Utah state I've never been to actually.
I have been there. That is 1 of
my 12. It's a beautiful state. Lots of
gorgeous scenery, Salt Lake is amazing, so it's
a great state. Well, maybe have to put
it on my list and head on out
to Utah 1 day. But for now, why
don't you head out to Bethel high school?
Joining us today are Bethel High school band
director, Mallory Corn, along with 2 of her
students Taylor and Julian. So let's get right
into it with the students. So Julian, what
instrument do you play? How long you've you
been playing it and what gotcha you into
it in the first.
My
instrument of choice is the Car, and I
got into it because my mother was playing
at high school. And the day before try
out, she gave me her old Beat up
Yamaha from high And,
the day I went to try it out.
I made no sound the first time. I've
squeak loudly the second time, And at the
third time I made just the right pitch
in from there, my teacher said, okay, you're
playing Cla. And you haven't had a wrong
pitch since. Right? I mean, it's been... Oh,
no, God. I've been squeaking. But that's still
pretty good. You know, You hear these stories
of, you know, it took me 3 years
to actually get a good pitch out of
it. So the third try. You know, that's
that's pretty good. So I'm gonna give you
credit for that 1. Yeah. I've actually, like,
ever since and I've really clicked with Cla,
and even in middle, I've been considered, like,
the best in, like, you know my section
a lot of times. Like, I'm picking up
other instruments too like, Alto x and whatnot.
But Cla definitely needs something that I feel
connected with. Not only for my mom, but
from... Like, you know, just for my personal
experience. This is definitely a... It's for hold
beloved. That's awesome. Yeah. And Taylor, what about
to, what's your instrument of choice? How long
you've been playing and what got you into
it?
I picked the flute, and I've been playing
this like, my seventh or eighth year, I
think. To I've been playing since the fifth
grade, and
I also played the pic, but what got
me into it is just like the basic
fifth grade try outs. And I picked it
up, and it's the first thing I tried
it was the only thing I tried actually.
So I could enjoy a different instrument Just.
It's too late for me. Well, that one's
very report too. That... You know, a lot
of these are very... I I remember when
I was a kid. I got a signed
stand up base. And then I had to
take it home every day. At first I
thought, oh, my god, this is the coolest
thing look how huge this as I was
in, like, third grade, and then I had
to take that thing home every everyday, and
I realized, I should have picked something a
little smaller fiddle or something. But that's cool.
And so any temptation along the way to
switch it up? Have you gotten bored at
all? Or is it still pretty interesting and...
I think it depends on what I'm playing
because a lot of the time there's like,
temptation to switch and I'm like, oh, I
would love to be a brass instrument because
brass instruments have this big blah, like, big
sound, and it's so, like nice and they're
really important and in, like, pet bands and
marching bands because they're all you hear. And
you can't really hear a wood as well.
And so
that's something I wanted to try and so
I'll come after school and I'll pick up
different instruments, like I've tried the Eu and
the T bone,
but my parents won't let me pick up
more instruments. So it's hollow of pipe dream
and terms going on on On. Well, there's
there's a lot of time left for you.
Sure. Yeah.
And so, Mallory, what about you? What's your
history with musical instruments? When did you first
get involved and why did you love the
instrument that you chose? Yeah. So I started
in sixth grade, that was my district started.
Sixth grade band when you get to middle
school. And similar to these guys, it's pretty
much those... Like, fifth grade try outs. You
try out different things, and I was able
to make a sound on this iphone. It
was great. It looked cool. I was like,
okay. I'll stick with this. And so I
stuck with that. Through high school and through
college, but I did play Trumpet for a
bit in high school as well during our
marching and pet band. So kind of a
different setting
My younger brother had picked up Trumpet when
he joined band in middle school. And so
I kinda learned that at home and put
that in there a little bit for high
school marching band, but mostly have stuck with
Sa phone the way through. The Sa, you
know,
T bones very cool, Sa is very. So,
Mean, and Trump is cool too. So I
mean, you you got some, like, cool 1.
So... Right. This Street Cr is set on
that. Forget. And what made you wanna become
a teacher? You know, there's a lot of
people play music. A lot of people love
music but maybe teaching isn't their route. What
made you think the teaching was a route
for you? Yeah. I do have a lot
of teachers in my family. So I was
familiar with the profession,
in terms of being a high school band
director, I always thought that was way too
much of a time commitment, wasn't sure if
that was for me, but
through my years in high school band and
taking on leadership in my high school band.
I got a lot of experience just getting
out in front of the group and getting
an idea of what that would be like
and kinda of the behind the scenes working
with the director on a lot of different
things that they do. And I had a
lot of fun with it, and I figured
that sounded like something I would really enjoy
and something I could do. That's awesome. And
1 of the really cool things is... And
I think this might surprise some people that
to know that bethel high school hasn't had
a marching band. I That's all gonna change
next year. Next year is gonna be the
inaugural year of the Bethel high marching band.
So Wanna talk to the students here. So
Taylor,
that's pretty awesome that what are your thoughts
on getting involved in a marching. Have you
done any of that? Like, when you're in
middle school? Or have you tried that at
all? Or is this completely new to you?
Will, we march, like, regularly.
But with, like, our da parades and stuff,
it's definitely never been like a show or
anything. That's what I'm super excited about. This
is something I've been asking for since my
freshman year. I would go up to mister
White had all the time and be like,
so do we have a Marching coming, and
he's, like, we're working on it. I'll we'll
get there And I was like, okay. And
it's here.
Here. I'm so excited.
Julian, what about you? What are you looking
forward to in terms of the marching band?
First all I just wanna say about time?
Like, honestly, I'm looking might mainly towards just
that
team in that school spirit. That we're gonna
get. Because every time we went to the
Da parade, we see grand Ka capacity in
Span away like, just str their stuff with
the really nice uniforms we meanwhile we're walking
around in hoodies and jeans,
and
getting these new outfits,
and I can just see everyone's face light
up when mister White Had walked around showing
us the, you know, uniforms and now they
looked. It's definitely gonna be a new light
for Bethel, Bison in general because this is
definitely gonna be something that weird
gonna look forward to. This is something we're
gonna, like practice this heavily for. It's just
gonna bring school spear in general. And I
think that's what we've been lacking, especially in
the band.
So with these, you know, with the inclusion
of a marching band and with another addition
to our band, you know,
schedule,
this is gonna be huge for Bethel. Absolutely.
And and you mentioned it there there... There's
a pride to this, I think,
with bands and and just school bodies in
general, when you see your marching band, you
feel pride in that. And I know that
you will have some rival some natural rival
with our schools in district,
But I know. I was talking to you
before we started it. You you're you're calling
out some big boys in the marching band
all locally. So who who should be on
the lookout for Bethel high marching van next
year? I know. I have a lot of
progression friends. And every time at the parade,
we've always had drum offs against Lincoln. You
guys are some good players. So just letting
you guys know we're coming. We're coming. Respect
fully link and watch out? New Sheriff town.
Mallory, what are you looking forward to, next
year with the marching ban? Yeah. Well, 1
thing is just
the football games and band games already are
something that I just enjoy so much about
band and teaching band because that's when I
really get to see my students like, come
out of their shelves and see their confidence
grow and see them making friends and making
memories because, you know, it's 1 thing to
teach me a during class and during the
school day. But getting out into the community
and going on trips and doing all of
those extracurricular things.
That's where the fun really comes in. And
so I'm just really excited to add another
element to that, and I can see the
dedication These guys are ready to put in
and the excitement, and I can't wait to
be able to give that experience. Is that's
something I had in high school, and it's
definitely something I'm looking forward to sharing. Yeah.
It's fantastic. And Taylor, you know, I... I'm
sure this won't be easy because, you know,
these are skills and people work hard on
that. What do you think is gonna be
the toughest part about coming together as a
marching band. It's a new thing being kind
of the best version of yourself that you
can be. Well, I think there's a couple
of things because this is all new to
us. Like, this is something none of us
have ever done before. None of us have
ever been, like, a part of, like a
drum core or anything and, like, gone to
these fun shows. Like, these is all new
for us. But I know we are still
prepping forward in advance. Like, these are all
things we know the basics of. And then
the next thing is like just the size
of our program because right now, we're not
the biggest band in the district, and that's
that's fine because we do great. We hold
our own. It's no big, but
we're gonna get a lot more people, like,
they're gonna come up from Middle school and
be like, oh, I wanna be a part
of that marching band. I wanna be down
on that field. That's gonna be so awesome
because that's what I'm side. Yeah. And it's
cool because you will, you know, forever,
you you guys will be the first class
of the marching band. You'll be history books.
And
Julien, you don't strike me as the nervous
type. But are you feeling any nerves at
all about getting going on this next year?
Honestly, as much as I had it. Yes.
I am very much feeling the nervous of
it because, you know, with the involvement of
a new marching band, that will involve us
in, let's say competitions if we're good enough
or even trying to get into additions. And
knowing our band, we
feel like we'll have to basically lock in
when it comes to engagement, like, we'll have
to really be dedicated with this because another
issue we have is just time. We need
to manage time and stuff. Because a lot
of our students or athletes. A lot of
our students involved with other things. So 1
of the cool things about not just marching
bandwidth but bands in general is, you know,
you get to pick these interesting
pop songs that you take your own take
on,
you know, I've heard Lady Gaga on Beyonce.
I mean, people are taking on all kinds
of if you could choose
any pop song, or I guess any song
in the world could be a country song,
whatever, rap song to play at, let's say,
a Bethel
football game,
which song would you choose and why?
Oh, that is so hard.
There's a lot of songs out there.
I don't know. Actually.
I think in class we were talking about
poker,
by lady Gaga, like yesterday.
That sounds super fun just because
I, it just sounds fun. Or anything by
Michael Jackson? Because if you ever seen, like,
those
overhead shots of, like, the U up marching
band or like, some super big marching... College
marching band, and they do those fun shapes,
and it's, like, literally the guy moon walking
while they're playing. It's amazing. That sounds awesome.
Yeah. I would love to do that. Yeah.
Those are 2 good ones. Julian, what about
you? You got... You you can choose any
song or a couple songs
that you're gonna perform? What what are you
gonna perform? Not gonna lie. When we were
doing the recommendations
on the board,
shout out to my email friends out there.
I know there's an arrangement of Helena by
my chemical romance.
And, like, for Pet band, Oh my god.
Great. Another recommendation too I've seen is my
mom mentioned how when she was in marching
that,
they did a,
men and black arrangement thing, and they, like,
had, like, the... They're marching around, like, you
know, the field and whatnot. I think that'd
would be pretty cool, Especially since she showed
me it, and, like, it was really nice.
I think that'd be something that we hundred
percent can do as Bethel Bison band. Yeah.
Anything else, really, I'm I'm down for anything
like a boy I'm don't to play in
general nice.
Mallory, what about you? You're from a slightly
different generation, What kind of music maybe that
you listen to in high school or that
you're to know. I guess would you think
would be a fun
way to introduce to a marching band? You
know, maybe it's not exactly from my generation,
but 1 thing that I've seen be really
cool in terms of marching shows is music
from queen.
Absolutely. And so I... I've seen a couple
people couple bands out there doing queen shows,
and I think that music's awesome. And I
know we're early. So... And and I don't
wanna I don't need to spoil anything even
if you do have some ideas but are
you already kinda cooking up some ideas for
next year that you are gonna introduce? I've
just started the process of and into some
things. I I don't have anything that would
be ready to share at this point, but
started that process. And now we've got some
even good some good ideas coming from here.
Right. If you go with any of these,
I... I'm gonna need you to give credit
to the podcast for the inspiration. Sounds good.
Anything else you guys wanna say about the
band in general, about marching band, about Bethel,
about your band director here, anything at all.
I mean, it is kind of off topic
a little bit. I just like to shout
out, Cooper Mountain, middle school, teacher, mister Curtis.
Other than that, though,
I'm excited. I'm a hundred percent excited. Like,
this is something that honestly, we're ready for.
Honestly, my per precaution friends do, like, we're
they're ready to structure their stuff here. Like,
all we need is, like... They're right for
these outfits. They're ready to, you know, get
out there and perform.
So it's just
We're ready. Yeah. I can tell. No. You
chomp the bit. Any anything that you wanna
add?
I think I'm just really excited for the.
This gonna be my last you during in
high school. So I'm really excited to make
some super big memories, and
I think we've some really great band directors.
Like, I think you guys are perfect to
run the marching band just because of your
awesome experience. And I think you guys are
just ready to bring all the fun. And,
like, if a student had an idea. I
could bring it to you and you'd would
be like, alright. Let's do it. Like,
I think there's just a lot of involvement
from everyone, and I think we're all really
excited to get going. And Taylor, you'd mentioned
the U dub Marching band. Do you have
any desire to kinda continue playing music? Oh,
absolutely your next journey? Are you're already thinking
about that? Yeah, That's why I wanna go
wanna go to Utah, and I wanna be
in there marching band so bad. And what
about Julian? You got a little more time
before you have to decide, but is that
something you could think about going playing in
college or Yeah. Honestly, if I have the
opportunity to, I'd love to play in college.
And what's college I've been specifically looking for?
I might be a bit of a watching
trader, but
I love the Beaver do. Like, their their
band is so cool. I've or can say
it all the way. Alright. A rivalry going
here. Well, thank you all so much for
joining us today, and we cannot wait for
next year to see you str yourself out
there, and I'm sure it's gonna sound and
look amazing. Alright. Thank you so much for
having us song. Thank you so much.
Such a cool experience.
Fantastic interview Connor Love here hearing from those
students, are we listening to the Bethel High
school Bison right now? That's done. They sound
amazing. They're fantastic. I love hearing from our
student musicians, and I can't wait to see
the Bison marching in parades starting next school
year. That's very exciting news. As we wrap
things up here, Connor, and I wanted to
go back to the happiest states and see
where our respective birth states ranked on this
list I was born in the greatest state
in the country Pennsylvania. They been dead center
25 on the list they are seventeenth in
emotional and physical well being, 30 fifth in
work environment and 20 seventh in community
end environment. And again, if you've forgotten, you
can find this data online from Wallet hub,
it was covered as a pretty big story
by Cnbc and a whole bunch of other
folks. Connor Montana, where you putting them there.
You know they're not number 1 that's Utah
and they're not number 50. That's West Virginia.
Having grown up there. I'm gonna say coming
in hot and 49.
Based on my strength, you don't. I kid
the beautiful people of Kentucky I'm gonna say,
I I think we're we're a pretty happy
bunch. I'm gonna go I'm gonna go just...
I'm gonna say just outside the top 10.
Let's go 12. Well, hang on. I actually
can't find them on the... They can't be
on the first page. Flow right is number
8. Got New Hampshire 15. I'm on the
third page here. Arizona at 27
here they are. They're on the fourth page,
Montana coming in strong,
I guess, at number 34.
Yeah. She got beat by the Yin, and
that's... Doesn't You haven't been to Ken or
Vincent pizza, so you don't know what you're
talking about. Well, that is gonna do it
for us everyone. And if you like what
you heard, be sure and share it with
a friend. I'm Doug. And that's Connor, and
we'll talk to you again next week.