Music Parents Root for the Marching Band and Support of the Arts

When the Hasbrouck Heights marching band steps onto the field during a football game the students performance shows the hours upon hours of hard work and dedication they have put into mastering their instruments, learning the songs and the formations.

Rooting for them is a group known as Music Parents, who work to support the marching band and color guard. They host fundraisers in support of the music program, assist the kids during events, competitions and band camp week.

Donna Wipper, the group’s current president  is stepping down at the end of the school year after her youngest graduates. She has been with Music Parents for about 20 years. Her oldest daughter is now 32 years old. She recalled the days when the marching band competed regularly and just about every  Saturday there was another event to go to that would last all day, sometimes returning home at midnight.

These days there are less and less competitions and much of that is attributed to scaled back funding for the arts, which she and Corin Drozdowski, the group’s vice president, said is happening everywhere. Wipper also believes there needs to be more support of the arts just from the community in general.

She sees the football field as a band field too. “Their games are our competitions,” she said.

Ruth Feehan, who will take over as president in June when Wipper steps down, pointed out how hard these kids work and feels that it goes unnoticed by many.

The marching band is made up of students in grades seven to grade 12. Joe Ascolese, music director explained that the band is made up of both students who take band as a class to get credit while others who just sign up to play.  In addition to marching band, Ascolese oversees a concert band made up of students in grades eight to 12 and the high school jazz ensemble.

The concert band and jazz ensemble performs concerts at the high school three times a year – a holiday concert, the winter Pops concert and the spring concert which will be held May 25.

There is also a winter color guard which is called Pierot which the Music Parents support as well.

April is when Ascolese begins to put the feelers out among the school musicians to see who will be participating in marching band and color guard. There are band officers such as drum major, section leaders which the kids audition for, he said. They make the officer announcements during the Music Parents’ annual award dinner which is held in May.

At the end of August, about a week before classes begin, the marching band spends an entire week out in the field in the hot sun working on their show. Ascolese says he works with the staff to write the drill for the band and the color guard and then they begin to rehearse with the students during the week long band camp.

During band camp week, the Music Parents chaperone and provide lunches, ice cream, water and snacks.

“We try to make it a fun atmosphere,” Drozdowski said as they know it’s hot and rainy in August. If it’s raining or drizzling the kids still need to be out on the field learning their routines.

Drozdowski said she really admired the dedication she saw in these kids during last year’s band camp. She recalled watching the seventh graders sitting on the bleachers during break. They sat there intently working hard on their parts. “It was so nice to see them working hard and getting it right,” she said.

The kids also practice after school during the week and all day on Saturday in September.

Wipper said in the past the school would host large competitions where bands from all over the eastern seaboard would come to Heights to compete. Ascolese said the school has hosted bands as far away from Massachusetts, Maryland even Niagara Falls at these competitions but these days due to less funding in the schools for arts programs not as many schools compete anymore. He said he is planning on taking the marching band to competitions in the coming year. In the past they have travelled as far as upstate New York to compete.

Drozdowski, Feehan and Wipper, all agreed that their kids have made good friends from being in the band together. “There’s a nice camaraderie among these kids,” Feehan commented. In fact Wipper said her oldest daughter is still friends with many of the kids she was in band with back in high school.

Feehan and Drozdowski were in band when they were in high school and Wipper was in color guard. Being a Music Parent is kind of like passing the torch from one generation of musicians to the next.

Next up for the Music Parents is a car wash/garage sale Saturday May 7 at the high school of which the proceeds will benefit the support of the band.