Marching band fine-tunes its performance at camp

By Petra Chesner
Schiatter
Staff Editor

 Pennsbury High School marching band members - all 117 of them — have been limbering up, stepping to the beat and making music during the annual band camp, held for two weeks at Falcon Field in hairless Hills. The camp ran from August 18 to 29.
 It was “very productive,” explained Frank Mazzeo, who is wearing an additional hat now that he has been promoted to instrumental music coordinator for the entire school district. Previously, Mazzeo was director of bands.
 “The program means a lot to me and I’m really happy to be able to do this for the district,” Mazzeo said. “Instead of being in charge of 200 kids, I now have about 1,400!”
 Last year, he led his award-winning marching band to Hong Kong for several momentous performances.
 On Friday, Aug. 29, the band played at the Pennsbury Falcons football game. All the music revolved around stars, including “Starry, Starry Night”, which was popularized by Don McLean in the 1970s; and the classic Disney tune, “When You Wish upon a Star.”
 The Falcons won by one point against Archbishop Ryan. Just before kick off, there was an officer-pinning ceremony for the band. “The next group steps up and assumes the responsibility,” Mazzeo explained.
 This year, Mazzeo said, the band will feature “outstanding people.” The line up of soloists include: Ben Lupinnati on trombone, Rich Beem on trumpet, Laura Metzler on mellophone (marching French horn) and Carrie Oecshle, color guard captain.
According to Mazzeo, this is the second year soloists have been part of the program- Also, there will be a duet with Amy Lynes and Katherine Hangeland.
 “This year, w& have an awesome group of kids,” he added. Jonah Lustig is drum major. Allie LeCavaher is assistant drum major. Matt Adler is band captain. Pam Camasine is drum captain. In addition, Mazzeo noted two outstanding seniors are Rob Algazi and Kyle Ennis.
“Most marching bands do 50 sets of drills,” Mazzeo maintained. “A set of drills is when they hold a formation. They move around and set a formation. Our show has 70 sets of drills. Pennsbury goes on the high side. We were at 60 last year.”
“They’re doing some tremendous things with the program,” Mazzeo said about the band members. “They’re really stepping up. It’s exciting to be a part of it every year. You’re sad to see last year’s seniors go, but the new seniors just seem to step it up every time.
Allison LeCavalier, 17, of Yardley, is assistant drum major and plays tenor saxophone. She wants to study chemistry and go into the medical field.
“It’s really cool,” she said about band camp. “It’s nice to get to know the freshmen and just see how everything’s progressed in the four years I’ve been in the band.”
Allison said she has “met some of my best friends in band because we spend so much time on the bus together or on the field. It’s just a different kind of friendship because you know these people in a different capacity than anyone else.”
Jonah Lustig, 17, of Yardley, is drum major. Normally, he plays the drums, but as drum major, he leads the band. Jonah wants to either become a lawyer or a politician.
During a football game, Jonah carries a mace, which is a pole the drum major uses to guide the band during parades. He twirls the mace, flips it and catches it.
“I spent a lot of time practicing and getting advice from former drum majors,” he said.
Jonah claimed he is “very excited for the year. I think we have great, great music and a great drill. We’ll have an unbelievable season.”
Mark Adler, 17, of Yardley, is band captain. He plans to become an architect.
Adler commands respect in uniform because of his ‘towering’ height. Normally, he’s 6’ 3” tall, but with his special marching band hat, he looks more like he is 6’ 10” tall.
Being in marching band has taught him to be a leadet “I definitely feel as though it’s a privilege to be in this position,” he said. “I get to see all these kids progress.”
 As a leader, Mark said, “It definitely pushes me to work harder as I see these kids work as well as they do.” In the band, he plays four drums, which are called either ‘tenors’ or ‘quads.’ According to Mark, marching band “works you hard. It really tests your work ethic. I think it makes you more responsible and a more focused individual because of how disciplined each of us need to be.”
Karen Fox, president of the Pennsbury Instrumental Music Band Boosters, described the band camp as both a physical challenge and a social event. “Back to when they were freshman, they got a network of acquaintances and friends that made the transition to high school so much easier,” she said. “Kids reconnect with each other.
“They share a common goal and challenges,” Fox continued. “It’s the common challenges that make them recognize their successes even more because they are doing it together as a team. It is much like a sport.”