Marching band adds 10

The Fighting Flock of Falcon Fury, also known as the Fountain Hills Marching Band, brought in an experienced and proven winner for next year. Jan Gardner will be the new band director at Fountain Hills, and he has 10 state championships to his name.

Gardner won nine championships for Arcadia high school, including the past five consecutive AZMBA (Arizona Marching Band Association) championships. In 2022, Gardner and Arcadia earned first place in both the AZMBA and ABODA (Arizona Band Orchestra Directors Association) state marching championship.

James Morales led the Falcon middle school and high school bands this year and brought stability back to the programs. In 2021, the Falcons didn't have a full-time director until October, and Morales was hired the day before school began last August so that students wouldn't go without musical instruction.

Morales worked for FHUSD's music department before, and he helped his wife and former high school band director, Lynn Truby. Morales worked as the drill writer and instructor for the marching band, and together, they led the Falcons to their only state championship in school history in 2018.

"We’re so thankful for him for taking it on, and he did a wonderful job this year," Superintendent Dr. Cain Jagodzinski said. "He's been a part of the program for a long time, and the reason the program is successful is because of him and Lynn Truby."

Morales finished his return to Fountain Hills with a middle and high school spring concert on Thursday, May 18. The Falcons played several pieces, including "Jungle Noises" by Brian Balmages and "Looney Tunes Overture" by Bill Holcombe, and the two bands even combined to perform one piece together.

The musicians showed the band programs are alive and well at Fountain Hills, but they were impacted by the pandemic like all extracurricular activities. Since Morales and Michael Fox before him weren't hired until at least August, the Falcons haven't had a summer band camp for at least two years.

Gardner plans to fix that and hopes to see a resurgence in other areas, too. The Falcons haven't had a color guard section since the pandemic, and Gardner held his first color guard clinics last Monday and Tuesday, May 22-23.

The color guard adds flare to the visual aspect of a marching performance, and they complement the band with dance routines set to the beat of the music. They are important to the overall performance, and the Falcons previously won back-to-back state caption awards for color guard in 2014 and 2015.

Gardner only had a handful of students show up to his color guard clinic, but he's hoping to get more to join and is experienced in building up programs. He is quoted in other publications saying that when he first came to Arcadia over 10 years ago, the band and orchestra departments "barely had a heartbeat."

When Jagodzinski worked as principal for Arcadia high school during the 2020-21 school year, Gardner had already built up the program to a championship level. Although Arcadia is a bigger school than Fountain Hills, because it has so many elective options, Jagodzinski believes Fountain Hills has had comparable band sizes in the past and thinks the move will be a great fit for Gardner.

"There's multiple music programs, multiple signature programs, so the [marching] band just wasn't very big," Jagodzinski said. "He brought a level of professionalism, and a level of discipline and hard work, and it just paid off. Whenever I watched him play, it was like listening to a college band. They were so good technically in everything that they did, and the kids had a great experience."

Gardner and Jagodzinski each said they had a good working relationship at Arcadia, and they hope to continue that in Fountain Hills.

Next year, Gardner will teach music to Fountain Hills students from sixth to twelfth grade. He plans to have a wind ensemble class and percussion course at both the middle and high school, and he hopes to add a color guard class in the future.

Gardner has 32 years of experience and will bring new ideas to Fountain Hills. He said he’d like to compete in winter guard and winter percussion competitions, and he wants to take the students to Disneyland after the fall season. Last year, the Spirit of Arcadia marching band marched in the Festival of Light Parade, hosted by NBC, in Palm Springs, California, before spending a day at Disneyland.

Friday nights under the lights will look a lot different next year. The Falcons will have a new football field, a new scoreboard, a new band director, a new football coach, new uniforms, and a new logo. Jagodzinski is excited to see it all come together and said the community will be in for quite a performance.

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