Thank you to composer Randall Standridge for visiting the Dirksen Band students to discuss your music career. It was a great opportunity for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students to hear firsthand how you began writing and playing instruments at a young age. The Dirksen band has been working on Fanfare for the 16th Empire which Mr. Standridge wrote for his junior high band when he was teaching. The students also had an opportunity to ask him questions during the class period.