Palisades Charter High School Welcomes Band Director Tyler Farrell
By CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA | Reporter
You can feel the ground shake if you’re in close proximity to Palisades Charter High School—but it’s not the much-anticipated earthquake rocking. Instead, it’s the Pali High Marching Band practicing their latest routine under the direction of their new band director, Tyler Farrell.
The 27-year-old music phenom has entered the Palisadian school with a vision for success and one of the best marching band programs in the state to do it with.
Originally from a small town in North Carolina, Farrell started experimenting with music at the age of 2 with a drum set gifted to him by his grandmother. Following the music throughout middle school, Farrell said he figured out in high school that he wanted to be a band director.
He kept true to his goal after obtaining a degree in musical education and attending graduate school at UCLA while working at the Herb Alpert School of Music.
In the past, he has been the director of bands at Garner Magnet High School in North Carolina and a percussion instructor.
Now, the musical director is staring at a blank piece of sheet music with nothing but a conductor’s baton in hand—and the help of the well-revered percussion director Jeremy Miller and colorguard director Allison Wyant, to name a few.
“The one thing that I want to maintain is the commitment to the excellent performance standards that have been set and growing upon those,” Farrell said in an interview with the Palisadian-Post.
Taking over from the esteemed Alex Dale, Farrell wants to take the program even further and take the band into state and national levels.
But Farrell knows his vision for the band will not be easy to achieve, acknowledging the tough road ahead in hopes of repeating the achievements of previous marching band.
Band members are all expected to follow the five “Pali Band Values” known as Family, Respect, Discipline, Performance and Leadership, arguably being held to a higher standard than the average student.
“Pali Band welcomes every student who is willing to devote his or her time and energy to the organization, regardless of individual circumstances,” the band’s website says. “In return for their dedication, the band offers a home and sense of family to all of its members, and strives to develop an environment characterized by caring and acceptance.”
After-school rehearsals demand their undivided attention as they juggle their instruments with their grades. Former students have gone on to higher careers in music or top universities as a result of their marching band participation.
“We keep doing the things that have been done. We keep grinding out the details and striving for as much musical excellence as we can,” he said when asked how
the band can achieve the success he’s looking for.
Hitting the ground running, Farrell has already started introducing the band to this year’s new routine “Effigy”—a darker, “more aggressive” piece that will require band members to leave behind the traditional marching routine and take on the roles of professional performers.
“The start has been excellent,” said Farrell, describing his new start at Pali High. “The kids in the community, the parents, the school, have all been super gracious and patient. It’s kind of allowed me to just get to work.”
Farrell encouraged all prospective students or those with an interest in being a part of the musical family to “just do it.”
“Bring one of your friends and just come do it,” he said. “It’ll be hard work, but it’ll be fun.”
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