After over five months of inactivity, the morning band gears up to perform on the twice-postponed back to school night. As clouds figuratively and literally continue to clear, the question must be asked: are they ready? The Baldwin School of Puerto Rico’s morning band was created midway through the 2021-2022 school year to bring together all of the best musicians from 6-12th grade and have them practice before school three mornings each week. The first year was an experiment for the band, as they only got one opportunity to perform, but with the second year comes an urgency for conductor Bill Collazo and the returning members alike. 

The performance’s two postponements (from September 8th to September 20th due to rain and from September 20th to October 6th due to hurricane Fiona), is not as complete of a curveball as it may seem, given the music program’s past struggles with extremely poor luck. On last year’s Family Day, pictured above, more grades’ bands were scheduled to perform. Yet these performances were cancelled the morning of the event. This included the esteemed Class of 2026’s band, who were slated to perform such songs as “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Uptown Funk.” The performance was cancelled due to the bassist’s sudden contraction of Covid-19. “I was so bummed…,” said clarinet player Gustavo Colón. “So much practice just to not play in the end.” Now, in true Caribbean fashion, the band has been met with, not a rain delay, but a hurricane delay that has made the band unable to practice together for an entire week. 

So is the Morning Band ready? If they aren’t, they certainly don’t let it show. The environment in the practices is calm, yet quite elated at times, which is impressive considering how early in the morning these practices are. “Well, I’m just very glad the school is finally giving the band an opportunity to not only showcase every individual student’s talents, but also everybody’s talents together,” said 10th grader and morning band organizer Sophia Miranda when asked for her thoughts on the upcoming performance. The band has no shortage of talent, from senior guitarist Antonia Medina, to multi-intrumentalists Aramis Rivera and Luke Muskrat, to the vocalist trio, Stella Gierbolini, Miranda Alsina, and Daniela Rodriguez. The band’s last outing was a success, and they certainly seem eager to keep the momentum going into this school year. 

Though the setbacks are hard to overlook, hope does seem to be on the horizon for the motley crew. There is plenty of optimism to go round for them, as they share an excitement for learning new songs to perform. The students have a great appreciation for Mr. Collazo, recognizing that a great deal of the success of Baldwin’s music program can be attributed to him in his many years of service at the school. While the present remains a murky mess for the band—and for everyone on the island for that matter—it only makes the future brighter, as Baldwin’s best student musicians look to make a fierce return, in true Bulls fashion.