Van Stewart, the volunteer percussion instructor for the Cummings High School band and Gregory Milton’s right hand man, calls a friend on May 6, 2022, asking for tools he needs to assemble the new marching quints that just arrived. A student works with Stewart to inspect the new instruments as boxes begin to fill the storage room at Broadview Middle School.
Band director Gregory Milton helps a student understand and notate the chromatic scale during a regular class session on May 6, 2022, in the band room at Broadview Middle School in Burlington, NC. Milton goes around during this time to help all his students, giving them individualized attention and answering all of their questions.
On May 6, 2022, Gregory Milton, the band director for both Broadview Middle School and Cummings High School, leads a class focusing on the chromatic scale in the band room at Broadview Middle School in Burlington, NC.
Old and tattered instruments that were used by the Hugh M. Cummings High School band are lined up on their cases in the fine arts building at the high school which is currently under construction in Burlington, NC on Jan. 13, 2022. They were taken to get repaired by Gregory Milton but were deemed beyond repair by the shop. The Cummings High School band still uses taped and dented instruments as well as instruments donated by other high schools in the county including Western Alamance High School.
Gregory Milton sits at his desk in the basement of his Burlington home during a snowy Sunday morning on Jan. 23, 2022, and delivers a sermon virtually to his congregation, the Antioch United Church of Christ, which is in Henderson, NC. Milton, always being drawn to both teaching and learning, graduated from the Duke University Divinity School in 2018 to become a senior pastor following in the footsteps of both his father and uncle.
Sweeping the packing peanuts off the floor in the practice room at Broadview Middle School, Gregory Milton closes the band room alone on May 6, 2022. While his goal of getting new instruments was met, it a never-ending list of what needs to be accomplished to keep a successful band program afloat.
Gregory Milton enjoys an early dinner from Longhorn Steakhouse on Jan. 23, 2022, with his wife Tracey in the dining room of their Burlington home after preaching to his congregation. Tracey, the owner of A New Look Salon in Burlington, laughs as she and Gregory share stories about going to rival high schools, Williams and Cummings respectively.
Gregory Milton attaches the bell to the base of a new sousaphone in the practice room at Broadview Middle School on May 6, 2022. Milton, who received about $60,000 to spend on instruments, ordered lightly used and refurbished instruments as well as a few new ones from Taylor Music in South Dakota. Milton said, “If the band sounds great on those old raggity instruments, imagine how good we will sound on these new ones.”