Westlake Thunder Bands

It’s spring time and that means COLOR GUARD! Come audition to join an amazing team, learn new skills, compete and travel - GO THUNDER 💙⚡️💙
Register now using this link : https://forms.gle/3Q69B5A4twKGPBZA8

Hope to see you all there!

Our color guard hosted the first competition of the year. It was such a great event!!
The varsity guard took 2nd place with their beautiful performance of ‘Fool for You.’

Our JV color guard had a stunning performance yesterday and captured 1st place! 💙

We are SO excited to be hosting the first Utah Color Guard Circuit Competition of the season! Join us for a day FULL of Flags in a Gym 💙⚡️💙

Congratulations to our incredible Middle School bands!!
We love their directors, even though they’re odd!!💙💙
Paul Lemen Skyler Carter

CALLING ALL 5th and 6th GRADERS in Westlake boundaries!!
Come join our amazing Westlake Elementary Band!!
Classes will be at Lake Mountain Middle School.
**Please share this post with friends and neighbors! We want to get the word out!!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a beautiful holiday season! 💙

Same! 💙

The Westlake band family would like to extend our love and support to the family of Kelsie Re*****on Tingen who passed away in a tragic accident.
Kelsie was a flute player and head drum major for our show Dream Traveler. She greeted everyone with a smile and then treated everyone with kindness. She led by example and worked with grit and tenacity. Many have described her as a bright light in this world. She truly was.
While we are deeply saddened by this loss, we are grateful we had the opportunity to know her and spend time with her. She made us better people.
We love you, Kelsie! We will miss you. 💔

If you would like to help her husband and family during this difficult time, you can contribute here: https://gofund.me/e490e266

💙🥰💙

Come out and support our Winter Guard!

SPIRIT NIGHT! Come show some us some love by heading to Costa Vida in Saratoga Springs on Monday the 13th for some yummy dinner 😋 Make sure to mention you are there for Westlake HS Winter Guard!

I wrote this post 4 years ago. It is still true.
Mr. Brady is getting better at balancing family life. He can still do better at delegating. And he has discovered more crazy jobs that he did not sign up for.

As the wall in the photo says, he was defining our legacy. Now he is REFINING our legacy. He will still tell you that his program is not yet where he wants it. But he had a process he wanted to follow from the beginning. That process has served him well and I have no doubt that it will take this band where he envisions it.

That process has been slow but steady. It has been too slow for many of us. Some of us have turned into ‘armchair coaches.’ We put our uneducated opinions out into the universe without regard of how it effects the staff, the students and especially Mr. Brady.

We need to trust Randy and his staff! They have brought this band to incredible heights and will continue to do so. Our band brought a BOA judge to tears! An adjudicator at festival last spring said our Wind Symphony was the best he’d heard all day! And have you seen our color guard scores?!

We are the LUCKY ones to have our kids in this extraordinary program! Let’s make sure our attitude is one of gratitude.

And, Randall Brady: YOU. ARE. LEGENDARY. Thank you for being here! 💙⚡️💙

-Cindi Arnold
Former Booster President

I could not let this season end without one last thank you. And, I know he’s not going to like this post, but it needs to happen!
When he took this job, Mr. Brady was prepared to teach music. He was not prepared to be a relationship counselor, accountant, judge and jury, janitor, stylist, boss, or worrier extraordinaire. He is still learning how to delegate and to balance his family life. He is still fine tuning his program and building an inclusive, connected culture. He will be the first to admit that it is not yet where he wants it, but his passion and drive are taking it to an impressive place.
I wish you would all come to rehearsals so that you could hear the way he talks to our kids, the way he builds them. I wish you could see how he mentors his leadership team so that they are not only great leaders in band, but will be powerful leaders in the future. I wish you could see how he worries that he is enough and is doing enough for our kids.
Mr. Brady, thank you for being here for our students. Thank you for putting them first. Thank you for being their leader, their teacher, their mentor. Thank you, Mr. Brady, for all of the sacrifices we don’t know about.
I hope you can finally get a good night’s sleep and have some SWEET DREAMS!!

Cindi Arnold
Booster President Elect

We 💙our Seniors!! You are LEGENDARY, class of ‘24! ⚡️
Thank you to everyone who helped with our senior banquet.
PC: Emily Doman and Annalisa Thaler

We have been getting some spam/phishing attempts by new people posting links for Band Swag. All uses of the the band logo need to be approved directly through Mr Brady. The only approved Band Swag page is linked below through Game-one. The band receives a percentage of each of the sales also.

If you see anyone posting in comments about selling things with our bands logo on it please report the message and one of the admins will take care of it.

Westlake Thunder Band Custom Apparel and Merchandise - Game One The Official Store for Game One!

Please join us for this amazing free community event honoring our veterans ❤️

We have had some concerning comments on the page in regards to the American Fork Marching band. I am not going to refute claims and give evidence about rumors that have been said. I would like to make a post below with my experience to add some humanity when talking about other Marching Bands. I will try to not be too long winded.

Here is my truth and experience as a Dad of a Marching Band member in the Westlake Marching band. My son has worked tirelessly for 3 years with the marching band. He has practiced every day, brought his trumpet to camping trips, and now will set up music and conduct in front of a mirror to get everything just right. He has also attended every practice and every meeting. He wants to be the very best for all of the other 229 members of the Marching Thunder.

In my first year of being a band parent I tried to be good when people brought up AF and not talk bad or fall into the rumors of money, or judging problems. However I did sometimes slip up and say something off hand that was negative towards our greatest competition. I would clap and be happy for them when they took 1st in the competition. But I did not feel that way inside, I wanted to believe that there must be something sinister going on behind the scenes. Because I knew my kid, and the other 200 plus kids each year were working so hard to be better. and why was AF 2-6 points ahead of us each competition. I wanted recognition for what our kids at Westlake were doing, and in my mind 1st was that recognition.

Something changed for me this weekend in St George, let me tell you about it. I work closely with Tiffany VanSickle on the trailer. We are getting a new trailer soon after many generous donations from our community. I knew that AF had just purchased a trailer on the cheap and tricked it out in a perfect way that would work for our trailer and the band. I talked with the volunteers at Redrocks, mainly American Fork parents, throughout the weekend, finding a better spot for our trailer. I asked the American Fork parents if I could see the trailer and get some ideas. They were right in the middle of getting ready and 225 students were milling around getting ready for their show on Saturday prelims. They said sure come over and let's talk through it. They showed me everything about that trailer, talked about plans and details and offered to give me all the parts lists and any drawings they had. They wanted us to have the same thing they had. The whole part of the story that is important is this. I stood there in the middle of 225 students in Red and Black uniforms, our greatest and hardest competition, getting ready for their prelim show. I was amazed at the focus and determination each of these band members all had. They had practiced this process so much, and were so well trained to get ready. It was like watching a beehive operate, everyone knowing where to go and what to do. I saw on each one of those kids faces the passion for music and performance. These were not our hated rivals, these were kids that had sacrificed months of free time to be the best in the state at marching band. It added humanity and compassion to my heart just to be around them. Our Westlake Marching Thunder kids know that passion and sacrifice. I have seen it on each of the kids' faces when I stand by the trailer and everyone is getting ready around me.

We have a very special group of kids, American Fork also has a very special group of kids. This is the best marching band performances I have seen in the state of Utah. If Westlake was around for as long as American Fork we would be fighting for 1st place back and forth for the past 20 years. 20 years ago when they started winning 1st place, Saratoga Springs was fields and a rolling bumpy redwood road along Utah lake. Next year is going to be a special year. We have a great Director Randall Brady, we have so many great returning students, and we are going to have a great trailer to haul it all around.

I would challenge each and everyone of you, next time you think about AF or any band that did better than our kids, think about all the time, focus and passion each of those members have. Our band is so close to achieving a 1st place finish. Every year the band gets better, and more dedicated. The kids that leave the band each senior year should be proud of what they accomplished. There are hundreds of other band members that are trying to be 2nd and 1st.

Let's cheer together, let's celebrate the accomplishments together. We all love music, and we can do hard things together as a community.

Love you all and I hope everyone is excited for a spectacular 2024 season.

-Ryan Burningham
Booster President Westlake Bands