Frequently Asked Questions

Since the 2020-2021 school year, yes, band started in the 7th grade. However, for the 2026-2027 school year and onward, band will begin in the 6th grade. If your student is at Lipsey, either as a 5th grader or 6th grader, your student has the opportunity to join the beginner band next year, either at Lipsey or AJH.

There are many ways for your student to get an instrument. After instrument testing and assignments, you have the options of purchasing an instrument, renting an instrument through our friends at Amro, or renting an instrument from the Ole Brook Bands. Large instruments such as baritones/euphoniums, tubas, and percussion will be provided by the Ole Brook Bands.

If you’re looking to purchase an instrument, do NOT purchase from Wal-Mart, Amazon, Temu, etc. While these instruments are inexpensive, you will very quickly be spending large amounts of money on repairs. These instruments are not made well, break easily, and will hold your student back. If you want to purchase a used instrument, please allow a director to inspect the instrument before purchasing it. We want to make sure that it’s of good quality and works well.

Before school begins in August, each student needs to know how they will be getting an instrument, whether this be through a rental program or purchase. More information will be sent via email throughout the semester and as we approach August with details on how you and your student can prepare to begin the journey of being a member of the Ole Brook Bands. We will also post on our website and send via email links to videos so that students can get a jump start.

Yes!! Whether it be at Lipsey, AJH, or BHS, students can be involved in other school and non-school-related activities. For example, at BHS, we have band students involved in cheer, track and field, volleyball, softball, tennis, mock trial, homecoming, dance, piano lessons, and more! We try our best to work with each student’s schedule so that they can participate in band while also experiencing the other activities they have an interest in.

Absolutely! Joining the Ole Brook Bands requires zero prior musical knowledge. We will teach your student everything they need to know to be successful in our program and beyond.

You should register your student for band for many reasons. Band students often experience a higher level of academic success than those who are not involved in music. Joining the band almost always results in receiving band scholarships, and many of our students attend local community colleges for free.

By being a member of the band, your student will learn a skill that will last a lifetime. They will have a higher degree of cognitive development due to the creative nature of music, problem=solving, mathematics, and language that is involved in being a musician. They will also learn teamwork, work ethic, dedication, self-discipline, respect, and more important values by joining our program. We instill these values in our students because although not all of them will become professional musicians, all of them will become professional human beings.

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The only things that we ask of our students is to try their best, be patient, and be open to learning new things. For many students, music is a foreign language when they first begin. We ask that they be willing to learn about music and to be patient as the process of learning and excelling at an instrument can take longer than they’d like. Lastly, we ask our students to always try their best. We have found that when students put in the effort required for being a band member, 100% of them see positive results. As our motto for the Pride of Ole Brook states, we strive everyday to “make our bare minimum everyone else’s best.”