Band Director Debbie Lambert recently had an interview with EnidLIVE! about the upcoming 91st Annual Tri-State Music Festival.
She went on to talk about the challenge of learning to march and to learn the instrument. As stated by Lambert, “The Junior High Band, they don’t start more until the 6th grade.” She went on to say “They’re spending the whole first year trying to figure out how to play the instrument. That’s hard enough. Then we start having them march and play the instrument. Sometimes it just takes forever to get that to click in.”
Debbie also talked about the support Tri-State likes to see as well as some insight on the marching parade. She states, “We just hope people come out and support the kids by watching them at both places.” She went on to say “The city itself, Mainstreet Enid, they’re gonna try and bring in the food vendors and things and have them downtown for the parade.”
She also talked about how far the Tri-State festival reaches other cities. Quoted by Debbie, “I think it brought a lot of attention to Enid” she says. “I had a relative that went to New York City probably 50 years ago and got off the plane. When she walked into the hotel, they had a big advertisement about the Tri-State Music Festival in Enid, Oklahoma in New York City. So it’s brought a lot of attention to our town through the years. They had big-name conductors and everything else that came here.”
Debbie finished off by saying that this is her last year hosting the Tri-State Music Festival after 15 years, and is now handing it over to Robert Anderson. She has hosted it for 15 years and has taught band for 28-29 years. She was also in Tri-State since 5th grade.
