Forest High School Band Program

   David Hess grew up in Lakeland, Fl. His family had a history in music, his father having sung in professional gospel quartets, his mother a singer and instrumentalist. He attended Crystal Lake Junior High School, where he won the Outstanding Bandsman Award in the ninth grade (which was a big deal at the time).

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   David Hess graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education. His last few years there, he was the first ever freestyle drum major of the Gator Marching Band, President of Phi Mu Alpha, and a member of Florida Blue Key and Omicron Delta Kappa.

He took over as the band director at Ocala Forest High School for the 1981 school year where he received the First Chair of America Outstanding Band Director Award. After only one year he left to attend Louisiana State University as a graduate assistant in the School of Music.

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   Among his activities in the instrumental music program, Mr. Hess played trumpet in the LSU School of Music's #1 jazz band and directed the #2 jazz band. While at LSU, he also performed trumpet with B.J. Thomas when he brought his concert tour into Louisiana. After one year at LSU, he moved to Las Vegas, embarking on a professional trumpet career. Among his highlights was playing with Lynn Nicholson. It was while in Las Vegas that he was bitten by the acting bug. He is currently a theatrical and operatic actor based in New York City.

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