BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY AIMEE TERRANOVA Above, members of the Lakewood High School marching band perform their fall show “In the Time of Legends” on Nov. 6. At right, Lakewood High School marching band director Benjamin Schwartz offers suggestions to band members at a recent performance. The Lakewood High School marching band remains small in number, but the awards in its trophy case just keep multiplying.
This fall the 36-member band won five out of seven competitions, scoring victories in Manalapan, Jackson, Scotch Plains and Carteret. The band recently won the New Jersey Group 1 Open United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) championship in Union on Oct. 31.
On Nov. 17, the band may have added the title of USSBA All-Championship to its other honors. The competition at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford was rescheduled after being rained out on Nov. 12.
Last year’s students were equally successful, but after the departure of former band director Deb Knisely early in 2004, administrators searched for someone new to lead the award-winning band. They found Benjamin Schwartz, 24, of Old Bridge, whose creative vision has kept the students on a winning track.
Schwartz, a graduate of Rutgers University, has a degree in music education. He began playing drums at the age of 9 while growing up in Westfield, Union County. Schwartz credits his family with encouraging him to pursue his passion in music.
“My dad is a music teacher and a professional musician,” he said. “My brother is a guitarist [and] my mom’s a flamenco dancer and teacher … so it was natural that I’d grow up having a career in music, [too]. I knew I wanted to be a teacher and [since] I played in the marching band, I could see myself doing [this as a career].”
Schwartz, whose first job was teaching fifth- and sixth-grade music students in Hillsborough, Somerset County, now teaches grades nine through 12.
Assistant Director Beth Schondelmeyer, 27, helps with rehearsals and organizes events. She said she met Schwartz after he began working for the Lakewood district and the two became fast friends. When Schondelmeyer heard there was also an opening for an assistant band director she took that position.
Schondelmeyer, who is the music teacher for Lakewood’s elementary schools and high school special education students, said that she, too, shared an enthusiasm for marching bands while growing up.
“I taught marching and maneuvering [coordination of feet and body movements] in Phoenixville, Pa.,” she said. “When I heard there was an opening [with the Lakewood marching band], I spoke to Dr. David Weintraub [director of fine arts] and asked if I could apply. He said yes.”
Schwartz and Schondelmeyer work with Jen Kline, who choreographs the color guard’s movements.
“She listens to the music [I’ve selected] and interprets through the choreography how the flags and dance steps integrate with the band’s music,” said Schwartz. “It’s a creative collaboration.”
The end result of that collaboration is a production called “In the Time of Legends.” Schwartz said the music of composer Michael Sweeney inspired an homage to the life and times of Greek philosopher/teacher Socrates, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh and American President Abraham Lincoln.
“I tried to listen to the music and [relate it to those historical figures],” said Schwartz. “For instance, some of the music sounded heroic to me and reminded me of Lincoln. Socrates reminded me of bravery and mystery. He was constantly thinking [and being] analytical. Van Gogh reminded me of color.”
Schondelmeyer said narration was added to the production to include quotes by the three historical figures that link them and the music together more closely.
At the last home football game of the season, played on Nov. 6 against Manalapan, the members of the Lakewood marching band demonstrated to spectators just why they have garnered awards and accolades.
Wearing long black dresses with glittering red accents and headbands, the members of the color guard waited for the signal to begin their performance. Behind them, dressed in white and blue uniforms and hats with feathered plumes, band members began to play music that evoked the life of Socrates.
“Let he who would move the world first move himself,” intoned the announcer on the stadium’s loudspeakers, adding that Socrates was the symbol of endurance.
The girls began to dance with sweeping, dramatic arm movements that suggested the spirit of analytical inquiry that Socrates instilled in the students of ancient Athens whom he taught.
The band members chanted as the members of the color guard raced between them waving pastel flags of lavender, navy, white and turquoise. As the last note was struck by the band, the members of the color guard threw down their flags with matching intensity, signifying the surrender by Socrates of his life for his ideals.
Socrates drank hemlock after he was sentenced to death for his teachings.
As a signal to begin the band’s salute to Van Gogh, a black backdrop on which band parents had sketched a portrait of the artist was turned around. The announcer provided a quote by Van Gogh and the band and color guard began their performance.
Van Gogh employed vibrant colors with bold brush strokes in his paintings. To evoke the timeless appeal of his work, the color guard unfurled twin flags with a flourish as stately music began to play. The girls twirled the flags over their heads as the band separated into two groups that flanked either side of the color guard members. To denote the final years of the painter’s tormented life, solitary notes of a xylophone chimed the end of the segment.
An etching on a black background of the third figure, Lincoln, was turned around to signal the beginning of the third segment of the production. The announcer provided a quote by Lincoln, the president best remembered for preserving an America torn apart by civil war.
The rising crescendo of music, like ominous clouds of war, ended as abruptly as Lincoln’s life. Simultaneously, color guard members dropped gracefully to one knee and stamped their flags’ poles on the ground.
As spectators burst into applause, the girls rose to their feet and followed band members off the field.
“They’re just wonderful!” exclaimed Schondelmeyer. “We’re only as good as the kids. When we need them to give us more, [they do]. Our seniors [last year] paved the way and set the standard. We’re so proud of them.”
From April 13-18, the band members will be showcasing their talents for an audience far from home. At that time, the Lakewood marching band will be performing at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., in a production titled “Disney Magic Music Days.” Schwartz said anyone who would like to make a contribution to the fund established for the trip should contact him at (732) 905-3519.