Curators: Anthony Correa

South Broward’s, Anthony Correa eats, sleeps, and breathes band, but he’d be the first to admit that it wasn’t always that way. “I picked the (band) elective in 7th grade” says Correa “at the time I wasn’t too into it”. So, how did someone so indifferent towards the club become the two-instrument (clarinet and drum) leader that he is today? It had a lot to do with a change of scenery, a motivating director, and an inclusive team.

Early in Correa’s high school career, he convinced his parents to allow him to transfer to South Broward High, so that he could join their band. He’d always heard good things about the band and decided he wanted cross town and join them. During his stint with the band, they have crushed performances across the state of Florida and earned the chance to play at Carnegie Hall in New York. The crew aslo earned the Otto J Krashuaar Award for earning marks of superior in each aspect of their performance throughout an entire year. The award was named after one of Florida Bandmasters Association’s 1991 Hall of Fame inductee. South Broward truly fit the spirit of the award, as Kraushaar was most known for receiving all superior ratings during his 27 years as the music educator of his high school band.

Anthony transferred from Hollywood Hills High to join South Broward's highly touted band

That was the kind of excellence Correa wanted to be part of when he transferred to South Broward High years ago. Correa knows he has a talented group of peers surrounding him each day. He says they “share the same passion for music and everyone is just trying to help one another become better musicians”. Still, it was the school’s former band director that motivated him most. “He’s one of the big reasons that I got pushed into becoming a better musician” Anthony said “when I came here (South Broward) he was what really sparked my musicianship, his leadership is just very inspiring”. The obvious question is “how?” I asked Anthony if there was something specific that Mr. Scott said or did that resonated with him, and the answer was (pun intended) music to my ears. He described an instance where Scott told him that “music is emotional first and technical second”.

Correa is known for bringing the energy to his performances

Anthony brings both that emotion and technique to every performance, as he can be seen jumping as he plays and hyping up his bandmates. Correa hopes to carry his infectious energy into a membership with FAMU’s renowned Marching band, the Marching 100. Performing since 1892, this historic band is credited for many of the popular techniques utilized by collegiate and high school band nationwide.

Still, with these aspirations, Anthony has no plans of focusing solely on music during his time on campus. “I’m trying to major in pharmacy, no one said I can’t be in pharmacy and be a musician”. Until then, Anthony will continue exceling in the classroom and perfecting his craft outside of it. He will perform in his last high school show on May 18th, and will be honored alongside the other graduating seniors.