Lakewood Ranch High bands enjoy winning streak

When he saw the hundreds of rows that lined the Georgia Dome, Ryan Hyatt knew he was about to experience something very different.

The 17-year-old Lakewood Ranch High School senior never had performed in such a large venue, one which can hold up to 71,250 people.

Hyatt and his 119 bandmates closed out 2015 with performances leading up to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, held from Dec.27 through Jan. 1 in Atlanta.

"Playing in that dome was one of the coolest moments I've had in band," Hyatt said. 

Even before the Lakewood Ranch school captured the Most Outstanding Marching Gold Band Award and National Jazz Band Grand Champion at the Peach Bowl, the band program had put together an award-winning year.

Marching band earned superior ratings at the district competition, were finalists at the state competition and were named national Grand Champions.

"To accomplish that all in one year is tough, but rewarding," Band Director Ron Lambert said. "These kids deserve to be recognized."

Trophies and plaques line the inside of the band room from this school year's performances.

"There was something different about us as a band this year, something special," Hyatt said. "I'd say it was because some of us are seniors, but that's not it. We set ourselves to higher standards this year.

The jazz band even made its way back from the state competition last spring with no major road incidents.

"Our buses blow tires every year," senior Zach West said with a laugh. "We've had to wait at least an hour on the side of I-75, just 10 miles away from our exit, so another bus could pick us up. It's crazy. But that didn't happen this year."

Eighteen-year-old Olivia Ogles, who is a member of the school's Jazz Band, has focused on past achievements to help her perform better in the future.

The school's jazz and marching bands have earned superior ratings at state competitions since she was in ninth-grade, she said.

"We just feel like we have to live up to that, every year," Ogles said.

Lambert, who has taught at the school for 12 years and has been the head of the band program for the last four, has watched the growth.

"I've upheld the traditions Bob Shaers created here with the band program, playing the 60s song, 'The Horse,' at games," said Lambert with a smile. "But I've also found my own voice and created my own style. This is very much my band now. I love what I'm doing."

He credits his bands' increased level of performance to his students' maturity and determination to keep getting better.

His stubbornness and demand for "next-level" performances hasn't hurt, either, he joked.

"This year I finally felt the kids were all in with me," Lambert said. "The way they rehearse and their determination showed they were on board to continue to get better."

As testament, Lambert submitted YouTube links of the Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble bands' performances to the Brightspark Events and Presidential Inauguration Festival Committee.

He believed those bands were ready to showcase their skills at a new level and for a bigger audience. Lambert applied, for the first time, for his students to play at the next Presidential Inauguration.

"I thought it was time," Lambert said.

On Jan. 15, he told his students the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band were chosen to perform at the event, which will be held Jan. 20, 2017.

"We've worked hard to be the best," Lambert said. "You work toward a goal. They've earned their chance to play at this caliber of an event. We didn't get here overnight, but we're going to keep trying to get better and better."