Band camp: It's a class act in more ways than one

Intelligencer Journal

Published: Sep 02, 2008
00:05 EST

By KIM O’BRIEN and STEPHANIE WEAVER, Staff

A group of 30 Donegal High School students gathered under tents on a muggy July day. Their packed lunches sat beside them, as did folders with their latest school assignments.

They weren't sitting in a typical classroom, though. In fact, it wasn't a classroom at all. It was marching band camp, held at the high school's athletic practice field.

But band camp at Donegal is nothing short of an actual class. School wasn't in session yet, but marching band camp was. And at Donegal, band students are graded for their participation.

"It's like any other elective class you sign up for — but we come out here and play. It's kind of like recess," said Ben Andrick, 18, during a band camp water break.

A senior tenor sax player who's also band president, Ben said this year is the "hardest show we've ever done, musically and visually" — but the extra time practicing doesn't seem to faze him. Ben has managed to balance Key Club, National Honor Society, Honors Math Society, Ski club and Honors Music Society, or "Tri-M."

Marching bands across Lancaster County are made up of students who participate in a variety of activities — musical and not.

"We do allow our kids to participate in multiple activities," McCaskey High School band director Mark Watson said. "Thirteen of my instrumentalists are also field hockey players."

To accommodate the athletes, the McCaskey band opts to play after home football games instead of before them.

"I think it's important for students to have an opportunity to do a variety of activities," Watson said. "It's funny — they make it work. A lot of the kids have told me that they thrive on it. The busier they are, the more focused they are."

In the case of many schools in the county, marching band is an extracurricular activity.

At Ephrata High School, "students have to be academically eligible to participate in band," said Brittany Urban, 16, a senior tenor sax player and woodwind sergeant.

Brittany balances schoolwork with a full-time job, working from 3 to 11 p.m. after school. She's saving money to pursue music therapy studies in college.

She admits her days are busier than she'd prefer, but evening band rehearsal throughout the school year gives her a bit of a break from her work schedule.

"I don't work on rehearsal day," Brittany said.

Some high schools — including Garden Spot and Solanco — have made band a co-curricular course in which students receive an elective credit for participating in both band and marching band.

At Donegal, "we have a different situation," Sellers said. Marching band is a class of its own.

Members meet during the school day and have evening rehearsals twice a week.

"It requires a lot of time. They know that up front," Sellers said. But he added that the "class and grade don't turn people away."

"It's the students that really want to be here," he said.

Intelligencer Journal staff writers Laura Freeman and John Walk contributed to this article.