CHS band

Cullman High School Band Director Christopher Smith strives to provide students with a broad range of musical opportunities and education. Smith, band director at CHS for 17 years, said, “In the grand scheme of things, we want to provide a great musical education to the students of Cullman; to provide them with musical opportunities and experience, and to teach them about music they may not have been exposed to.”

Along with the 127-student Bearcat Marching Band, students can also choose to play in the jazz band, symphonic band, percussion ensemble, pep band or concert band.

“The Marching Band provides the largest opportunities,” said Smith, noting the places the band has traveled to for performances. “They get the opportunity to experience once-in-a-lifetime performances.”

Those include multiple nationally televised events such as the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Chicago, the Nation’s Parade in New York City, the 6ABC Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival Parade in Chicago and the “Celebrate a Dream Come True” parade in the Magic Kingdom.

Smith said being in band helps students to develop teamwork and musical skills, along with getting to be a part of great performances. “Our kids enjoy any opportunity to perform,” he said.

Although the students enjoy traveling to other cities to perform, the annual highlight is the Cullman County Band Exhibition. “That’s a big night for all the bands in the county,” Smith said.

The Cullman Bearcat Marching Band has been the recipient of numerous honors over the years, including multiple “Best in Class” and Division Championship awards at regional marching contests. Many former students have gone to college on band scholarships, and some pursued careers in music.

“I actually have former students that are band directors. They’ve moved from students to colleagues. That’s a really, really neat thing,” Smith said.