New RHS band director ready to hit ground running

By John Underwood / john@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 6/7/17

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — Lee Hughes, the new band director at Robertsdale High School, has been around music his entire life. You could say it is in his blood.

His father, Lee Hughes Sr., was a …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber? Sign in

Get the gift of local news. All subscriptions 50% off for a limited time!

You can cancel anytime.
 

Please log in to continue

Log in

New RHS band director ready to hit ground running

Posted

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — Lee Hughes, the new band director at Robertsdale High School, has been around music his entire life. You could say it is in his blood.

His father, Lee Hughes Sr., was a school band director for nearly 46 years. After spending the better part of his career in the Miami area, the elder Hughes moved the family to Mobile when the younger Hughes, now 27, was very young.

He spent the last several years of his career at Barnes Middle School in Mobile, where he retired this past year.

“My entire family is musical,” Hughes said. “I am really the youngest in the group.”

One of his older sisters, he said, is the band director at Alba Middle School in Bayou La Batre, who is also an accomplished musician, playing with orchestras in the Mobile area. Another sister is the artistic director for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Growing up in Mobile, the younger Hughes graduated from Murphy High School before going on to receive his degree from the University of South Alabama.

He spent three years as the assistant band director at Baker High School, then a year as assistant band director at Daphne High School before being hired by Principal Joe Roh to take over the RHS program following the retirement of Dayna Brannan earlier this year.

Unlike his predecessors, Hughes said, he is inheriting a now-thriving and growing program at Robertsdale High School.

“This program has done a complete 180 in the past three to four years,” he said. “I’ve been on the job for two weeks now, I’ve had a chance to meet with the students while they were still in school and had a chance to meet with many of the parents. Everyone is just super excited about the program here and the future of the program.”

While he has had a chance to implement some of his own thoughts and has begun to put his own “stamp” on the program, Hughes said, he is fortunate that he and Brannan share a lot of the same philosophies about music and running a program.

“For right now, we are going with an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it,’ approach,” he said. “Mark (assistant band director Mark Meadows) has been here for five years now, and he has seen it all. I am really looking forward to working with him and continuing to build the program.”

Hughes said he is also impressed with the school’s feeder programs, particularly at Central Baldwin Middle School with director Ashley Cummings.

Hughes is set to begin band camp near the end of July in preparation for the upcoming season, putting together a halftime show of patriotic music called “Infamy.”

And while the band begins preparation for the new season in July, Hughes said, he does not have a lack of something to do in the meantime.

“This is unlike any place I’ve ever been,” he said. “We may start practice in July, but my schedule is full. I have students calling me every day to schedule practice time, or parents calling me, wanting to come in and build shelves or some other project.”

Hughes said he will also continue Brannan’s program to replace some of the school’s older instruments.

“She did a great job with getting grants and I am looking to continue that,” he said. “What we have is great and I have been impressed with the continued efforts to make it better. People have a perception of Robertsdale that we don’t have it as good as other schools, but it’s just not true. From the students to the parents to Mr. Roh and the administration, everyone here is committed to continuing to make the program bigger and better and we are doing just that.”