Monday is music day for members of East Metro Home School Band

Joel Olson looks forward to Monday mornings. That's the one day each week he gets to play his alto saxophone with the new friends he's made this year as a member of the East Metro Home School Band.

Olson, 11, of Hastings, is one of the 16 students, ages 10 to 16, who get most of their education at home. He comes to Five Oaks Church in Woodbury to get weekly music instruction from Schmitt Music's Michelle Edlund and rehearse.

"It's fun," said Olson, who took up the alto saxophone and joined the band this year at the encouragement of one of his older sisters. "It makes me feel all warm inside."

On a recent Monday, Olson proudly worked on "Aura Lee," a duet he will play with the band's other newest member, Dennie Davidson, 10, of Woodbury, when the East Metro Home School Band performs Thursday at the Central Park Amphitheater in Woodbury.

The concert is one of three the band will present during the 2011-12 school year. In addition to a holiday performance and an appearance at a Woodbury senior center, the band has a spring show set for May 7.

"We are actively preparing for a concert. That's why we are practicing on President's Day," Edlund said. "We are able to do some really good music."

On Thursday, the ensemble will perform the "Black Forest Overture," a medley of Disney tunes, "Millennium Bugs," and in honor of St. Patrick's Day, "The Leprechaun March." The free concert also will include student soloists and duets, including Olson and Davidson.

Schmitt Music started the program in 1965 as a way to bring music education to students in private and parochial schools where a full-time band director was not available. It expanded the program to include home-schooled children in 1992.

Through the program, parents pay a $49 monthly fee to Schmitt. In return, a certified music instructor gives students a weekly 30-minute individual or small-group lesson and a one-hour large-group session.

"The program is amazing," said Joel's mother, Anne Olson. "It's great for parents who might not be able to teach that."

The East Metro Home School band is one of three ensembles for home-schooled children in the metro area that works with Schmitt Music. The others are in Brooklyn Center and Shoreview, Edlund said.

"It's important because these kids are all friends and they can interact with kids their own age in a musical setting," said Edlund, who noted that some of her students plan to play in college. "It gives them an outlet for their day. It challenges them in a different setting than just the academic setting."