To whom it may concern,

Music itself helps build bonds and friendships, but having a comfortable
environment with others that share the same passion makes it superb. Mr.
D’Hondt has coached not only the Adrian High School drum line but also a
separate percussion ensemble. As a drum line we improved greatly throughout
our marching season which we have both Mr. D’Hondt and our section leaders to
thank. Our section leaders are our own peers yet they lead their entire section
and help out who needs it, having this environment makes it easy to ask
questions. Our percussion ensemble consisted of 6 AHS students, including
myself. Our group, including Mr. D’Hondt as our coach, would take time three
days of the week to meet and practice “Taiko” by Scott Harding. Mr. D’Hondt’s
way of teaching helped us learn the piece no matter how each of us learned
individually. Everyone having busy schedules and being able to make time to
practice led us to scoring not only a 1 at District Solo and Ensemble but also
scoring a 1 at States. Respecting each others time and ways of learning played a
big part in this ensemble, just overall respecting each other assisted us in doing
well. Without his help as a leader it would’ve been insanely difficult to get this
piece as clean as it was, one of the high school students, Drew Price, was also
one of our leaders. Having these two amazing teachers to be able to talk to and
clear questions up with helped us score as well as we did.

Sincerely,
Milleena Davis