Over the last weekend, we had 28 of our band members make it to All-State Music Festival. Now this may seem like not that many, considering our 260 member band program, or maybe it’s a lack of understanding of the significance of All-State, but our Spartans made up 31% of the top musicians in our state.
Though this is truly a really wonderful milestone for our Spartan band members, it’s hard to understand its gravity without looking at our past.

For those who went to Sentinel in the past 8 years, there has been a notable transition for the band program. Our program in 2013 started with around 56 band members for the whole school. This would be comparable for a class B band, but not our AA school. Something to be at blame could possibly be the immediate transfer to Hellgate for musical reasons. This damaged our school in not only considering the lack of band members we have, but also the rep that some band kids may have on academic levels.
So what caused a shift from 56 to 260 band members; amongst the other amazing accomplishments the band has had in the past couple of years?
A simple answer is Lewis Nelson.
Nelson has done nothing short of bring our band program to its full potential. He came here in 2014 and has been sparking kids’ love for music ever since.
Before his amazing accomplishments at Sentinel, he was just another band kid in Missoula. He attended Hellgate High School and learned that, though he loved band as he does now, he hated the aspect of school. His grades were perfectly fine and he got through all his classes, but he struggled through high school on a social and passion level.
For those who know Nelson, it’s hard to deny that he could talk for days on end. He is a fountain of information as well as has witty comments and jokes. But, high school was a different story for him. He even claims that he might have muttered 4 words throughout his high school career. Band was one of the only things keeping him from dropping out.
Now, are there kids who feel the same way now, that stay here at Sentinel because of Nelson and the band program? Very well could be.
Though high school was very short of the extent of Nelson’s education, he was lucky enough to get enough scholarships to pay for close to all of his college. One thing he made explicitly clear in his interview, is the wish he has that kids would understand how much playing in band can pay for your future. Whether you want to go into music in college or not, being in the marching band for just your first years, pays close to your whole first semester. Last year our seniors in band had a total of 1.2 million dollars in scholarships and only two kids had to fully pay for college. Now that I’ve spilled a tidbit of Nelson’s agenda, we can look at how he got here at Sentinel with us.
He attended the University of Montana for his undergraduate in saxophone performance and education and graduated there in 2003. He then went on to get a master’s degree in Jazz at Arizona state. This is where he would then start his teaching career for 8 years before moving on to bigger mountains. He moved on to Germany to teach for 2 more years.
After all this, he saw an opening in Missoula for a band teacher and seized the chance to be back at home in Montana. As discussed before, the transition to grow the band program was hard, but obviously something Nelson could handle.
His first year in the program was admittedly difficult. He and his predecessor were very different and turning the ship around would prove to be a challenge. Nelson describes his first year as, “his way or the highway.” Ripping the bandaid off for him was something that needed to be done, or the potential for Sentinel would never have been reached.
He spent a lot of time visiting the middle school, because that is where the future was. Though the kids there at the time were dedicated, there isn’t a doubt that getting kids excited for band before even entering high school is an important aspect of growing such a program. Finally, as Nelson’s time went on, band kids in Sentinels district started transferring less often, and the program was growing.
By 2019, the “band was slaying” as Nelson says. The growth was tangible as their concerts went on and they even eventually were given the opportunity to go to Carnegie Hall in New York. While there, many amazing bands performed, but we strongly held our ground against much much larger bands who even had three directors compared to our one.
Sadly we then had to face COVID, and Nelson had to start all over again. But, Nelson being the hard worker he is, continued to try his hardest to bring it back to normal. Though, it’s claimed that the cycle and effects won’t be completely broken for another 4 years when the kids who were 6th graders in 2020 graduate. Nonetheless, we are of course on our upward trend.
It’s obvious to see that this article is more about the band program in the last 8 years and less about Nelson as a person, or outside of our Sentinel atmosphere. This is very well due to the fact that during an interview with him, he doesn’t ever stop talking about our band. Ask him what he does outside of school and he’ll come up with an answer that is sweet and simple, but then moves back to his work here and the love he has for it.
Though I’m not a student of Nelson’s, the love everyone has for him as well as the obvious progression he has brought to the band is inspiring. He never fails to support the program and works as hard as he can so that the kids he teaches excel.