Dr. Gene Butler is only the third Director of Bands at Smiths Station High School in Alabama since 1972. The other two — Mr. Rick Teel and Dr. Rusty Courson — were Butler’s band directors during his middle school and high school years. As the first SSHS alumnus to serve as Director of Bands, Butler, along with his colleagues, has focused on growing the music program, which serves students in grades 7 through 12. These recruitment efforts have increased enrollment by over 50% — from 316 students to 478 — and the marching band is expected to exceed 200 members next year. “When I arrived at Smiths Station, there was no elementary music program, so we began working with our elementary school teachers, visiting their classrooms multiple times a year to engage with elementary students,” Butler explains.

A successful strategy was having students take an informal music assessment test followed by contacting individual parents about their child’s music potential. “This personal contact proved valuable because it gave us the opportunity not only to discuss the value of band participation but also to address any questions parents had, particularly about conflicts between band and athletics in middle school,” he says.

Butler also spearheaded the creation of summer music camps for all Lee County Schools. Prior to COVID-19, there was limited collaboration among the four band programs in the district. The challenges of virtual learning prompted the band directors to work together. “In the summer of 2023, we partnered with our central office to offer band-specific camps for all students across the county,” Butler says proudly. “These camps were held alongside summer school, providing students with access to free meals and transportation.”

Building on the success of the summer band camps, Butler and his colleagues continued to collaborate, creating the Lee County Honor Band in January 2024. In its first year, the district had a middle school and high school honor bands with about 150 students participating. This year, a choir component was added, and more than 200 students from all attendance zones in Lee County Schools took part. “While the events have the title of honor band and honor choir, we welcome any student who chooses to apply. The primary goal is to help every student learn and be successful,” Butler states.

The district band directors collaborated again to create a plan for ESSER funding. The first time they submitted their proposal, they received no response. About a year later, when the administration had remaining funds to allocate, Butler and the other band directors resubmitted the plan. “We requested the purchase of $900,000 worth of instruments and $300,000 for additional support services,” he explains. “Our request was fully approved!”

In addition to recruitment and funding, Butler has also started several new ensembles at SSHS. “Being a well-rounded musician involves three key components: large ensemble, small group and individual practice or lessons. To be a complete musician, participation in all three is important,” Butler says.

The SSHS band program offers large ensemble opportunities through concert bands and marching band. Initially, the only small group was jazz band, but Butler has since expanded. “The development of our chamber ensembles began through partnerships with local universities, where music education students volunteered to teach after school once a week,” Butler explains.

Students participate in a masterclass for the first hour, followed by chamber music rehearsal for the second hour. “This initiative significantly improved our students’ musical knowledge and performance skills,” Butler says proudly.

Currently, Smiths Station offers eight chamber ensembles during late fall. These groups perform regularly at the Alabama State Department of Education, the Alabama State Capitol Building and for the Alabama Music Educators Association.

During the 2020-2021 school year, students had the option to attend school virtually or in person. Remote students were not allowed on campus during the school day, but they could participate in after-school activities. “One of our biggest concerns for virtual band students was how they could continue in an ensemble after marching band season ended.,” Butler says “To address this, we created the Extracurricular Concert Band, which met once a week after school. This band included virtual students on their primary instruments and in-person students on a secondary instrument.”

Seeing the success of students on secondary instruments, Butler wanted to continue this idea and proposed transitioning the group into the Smiths Station Community Band. “We opened this band up to anyone within driving distance who could play an instrument, and the group now has around 70 members, ranging in age from 14 to 81. The community band puts on several concerts each year, bringing music to our local area,” Butler says proudly.