In an effort to highlight Central Catholic’s extraordinary educators, the Raider Review is beginning a teacher highlight column. As you already know, Central Catholic High School has a great group of teachers. We hope to use this column to display our excellent faculty. To start us off, we are featuring Mr. Bruce Denmead, the beloved band and music director here at Central Catholic.

You might recognize Mr. Denmead as the band director or director of our liturgical music, but he teaches multiple classes that expand practical knowledge of music. For instance, in his AP Music Theory Class students learn the complex ideas and strategy behind the composition of both contemporary and historical pieces.

We had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Denmead and get to know him. We are really excited to share a snapshot of his career and life with you!

Raider Review: “Why did you decide to be the band directory here at Central?”

Mr. Denmead: I was always a high school and college director, so the idea for me was just to deal with some of the complexities of high school music over beginner ‘let’s just play a B’.  My wife and I had just started a family, and the school worked for me to still be a stay-at-home dad. This job is very friendly to me having … children around me at times.

Raider Review: What are your goals as the Band Director at Central?

Mr. Denmead: Make it bigger. I mean, I would like it to obviously have more members, but also for it to rise up in complexity, and I think we are doing that. [The fact] that we’re able to speak about really big things, and using music to do the speaking for us is awesome.

Raider Review: How old were you when you first started playing music?

Mr. Denmead : I was late . .  first, doing any kind of music started probably from the womb because my family, we sang and we did that as a family. But I did not touch a trumpet until almost eighth grade (while others started playing in fifth to sixth grade).

Raider Review: What’s your favorite movie?

Mr. Denmead: I like a lot of movies! Like all the Godfather-well, except for Godfather 3. I love all the Godfather movies, I think they’re great. Usual Suspects is an amazing movie. All the Star Wars films, come on, gotta love it—it has John Williams.

Raider Review: How many instruments can you play?

Mr. Denmead: If I was going to go out and play professionally, not that many. I mean, I could get away playing bass probably, I can get around—obviously—on trumpet, I can get around playing tuba, I can get around playing French horn, and depending on how hard the music is I can probably get around on saxophone, but I can play all of them, at least up to a certain level.

Raider Review: Who’s your favorite composer?

Mr. Denmead: I really love Beethoven. Really love Beethoven. But I really also like Shostakovich. So it’s hard. I also really like Duke Ellington.

Mr. Denmead’s love of music is evident through his responses. It was fun to hear his thoughts and his insight and enthusiasm is inspiring

We asked other Central students about what they think of Mr. Denmead. Here’s what they have to say :

Anonymous student in band: Mr. Denmead has such an addicting style when it comes to teaching music. I love his passion and the energy he brings to the concert band rehearsals. I love how simple he is able to conduct and the quirkiness he brings as we are practicing. I can’t wait to see the music he brings with the band in future CCHS concerts.

Anonymous student in band: He’s really funny and nice and really good at conducting

Milena Mataac ’26: I took AP Music Theory with him last year, which was originally pretty daunting because it was a topic I was relatively unfamiliar with, but he made it so that I was rarely overwhelmed or confused. Despite there being only one other student in the class, I never felt bored because he is so passionate about what he teaches; it’s very clear he loves what he does.

Thomas DiStefano ’28: He’s funny, he’s an effective band teacher […], he’s very methodical and it seems that he just wants everybody to be the best version of themselves in band and in general.

Kailyn Khalil ’28: Mr. Denmead is a great teacher. He is very nice and always gives the band a good laugh. I’m very glad that I chose to do band here at CCHS because  otherwise I wouldn’t have had him as a teacher. He helps us learn to express music very well to create an amazing and meaningful sound.

Anonymous band flutist: Mr. Denmead is really dedicated to his job as a band director. He really wants to grow the band and has put in effort to create videos and pictures for the school website and social media. I started band as a freshman and didn’t know how to play an instrument but with the help of a senior flute player and Mr Denmead’s band class (during school) I learned a lot. He really loves music and helping others grow.

Anonymous band trumpeter: Mr. Denmead is an outstanding part of the band program. His outstanding devotion and commitment to his passion is an inspiration to his students.

We are very grateful to have such a great band director here at Central. Mr. Denmead is a dedicated teacher who’s teaching style works extremely well and makes students want to be in the music program. Whether you have a favorite band, question about an instrument, or a comment about different kinds of music, Mr. Denmead’s door is always open. And next time you’re in the hall, say hi to him; you will not regret it!