Band Room Buzz

In this episode we catch up on a busy past two weeks, discuss the upcoming Fall Concert and diaper drive, and…it's Homecoming week! We also have a very special guest - Ivan Orr. Ivan is a Charlottesville based musician who composes music and performs in several local groups. In addition to performing music around Charlottesville, Ivan works at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center as a researcher at the Center for Local Knowledge. Prior to that, Ivan taught music production in Albemarle County Public Schools and also helped to found the Music Resource Center in downtown Charlottesville. In this episode Ivan talks about growing up learning music in Charlottesville, and discusses some of the history of Charlottesville's music scene and history that he has learned in his role at the Jefferson School. We hope that you are as inspired after this conversation as we were! Always stay curious.

Jefferon School African American Heritage Center

Stepping Stone

Ivan Orr Joins Jefferson School

Ivan Orr Playing Live at WTJU

In this episode, our guest is Mr. Greg Thomas - former band director at Albemarle High School for 26 years. Greg taught at Walton Middle School, Albemarle High School, James Madison University, and at Charlottesville Day School. Hear from one of the best about lessons learned, the importance of music in a student's education, and some great stories over the years. We'll also give you a glimpse into the first two weeks of September, what that means for students, and some things each class has been doing over the past few weeks. We also get into some discussion about goals as a student, and what it means to set a goal and work towards it. We hope you enjoy our conversation!

Welcome to the Band Room Buzz!

In this first episode we introduce you to our hosts Andrew LaPrade and Olivia Harrell. We talk about the first few weeks of the 2026 school year including some glows and grows, how each class has started this year, some funny stories from the band room, (...including LaPrade falling off of his bike and a tornado warning during marching band practice), and talk about school/life balance with Olivia.

Our first interview guest is Rick Fu, a sophomore violinist at AHS, who was thrown into the world of the drumline. He talks about his unique experience learning the bass drum on the fly, jumping into the social world that is marching band, and discusses his experience at AHS.

We hope you enjoy our first episode.