If the center of town seemed a little quiet and a little more sparsely populated than usual around 3 p.m. last Friday, it’s because 299 H.B. Whitehorne students were not around. By the time that school let out, the students were enjoying some well deserved free time at Great Adventure after loading onto buses at 6 a.m. and beginning concert performances for Music in the Parks at Monroe High School by 8:15 a.m., just as their peers were starting their day. The morning was quite busy for students, teachers, and chaperones but well worth every minute of concert time.
If you’ve never been to this event in person and are wondering what all the excitement is about, perhaps comparing it to a sporting event will offer some perspective. Imagine an all day soccer or lacrosse tournament. The early wake up with plenty of coffee, a long drive to your destination, circling the parking lot of a town sports complex to find your field, and then, finally, the warm ups. Then, with the blow of a whistle, it’s game time. Watching your child play his or her best, fists clenched and eyes glued to the field. Cheering for an excellent play, applauding team work, and waiting. Waiting for the next half with the same level of anticipation and even more hope for a winning moment. In the end, after several matches, you relax until it’s award time. The anticipation builds anew and when your team, and the other teams from town in different age brackets, are announced as winners you couldn’t be any more proud of your child and the team efforts put forth. The Music in the Parks band festival was no different, and with plenty of rewards at the end.
HBW’s White, Maroon, Gold, and Jazz bands, as well as the choirs HB Voices and Acoustics have been participating in the Music In The Parks Festival for more than 20 years. By the end of the day, the White, Maroon and Jazz bands all received performance ratings of “Excellent” and the Gold Band received ratings of Superior and Best Overall Concert Band performance. The HB Voices choir and the Acoustics choir both received ratings of Excellent.  In total, the bands and vocal groups walked away with seven concert performance awards. Two individual medals were awarded to Michael Petillo (jazz soloist) and Alexis Duhaney (student accompanist) for outstanding solo performances. A school year’s worth of early morning practices, weekly music lessons and several concert performances proved that hard work reaps its own rewards. The students’ accomplishments were noted at this week’s Town Council meeting by Michael Nochimson, who said, “A real congratulations to those students. They did an excellent job competing.”
Winning awards is exciting, but the depth of dedication from the teachers and students spans well beyond one day in the park. For Brian Michalowski, the event is representative of a true community, “being part of something that is bigger than just yourself,” he said. For Dan Halpern, the true reward of excellent concert band performances is watching “everybody working together to create something beautiful, something awesome,” he said. Congratulations to the teachers and students of H.B. Whitehorne’s concert bands and choirs for a job well done.
