By Lucas Greifzu – Editorial Editor

At the home football game on October 18, the Jonathan Law High School Band invited the 8th graders from both West Shore and Harborside to play with them in the stands. They played with the band during the game and then stayed to watch the halftime show. The two bands played stand tunes such as: “Seven Nation Army,” “Louie Louie,” as well as the National Anthem. Advocate editorial and column editor Lucas Greifzu interviews Mr. Pelaggi about the performance.

Lucas Greifzu: What role did the 8th graders have in the performance on Friday?

Mr. Pelaggi: At the football game on Friday the 8th graders came in and their role was to come and see what the high school band looks and sounds like and feels like through an actual experience instead of like watching us or just coming to see us. So, they get to sit in and play with us in the stands, and we had a little rehearsal before hand, and they really got to see what the band experience is like here at Jonathan Law. 

LG: What makes you want to do performances with the 8th graders?

MP: One of the biggest reasons that we do performances of the 8th graders is that we give them that experience to see what it’s like before they make any decisions on if they want to continue or not with band going into high school that’s one of the biggest drop off periods in someone’s musical life is that switch from middle to high school, and getting the students to be able to really see what it’s like to perform in a bigger, more advanced ensemble is the reason we do that. And the kids really need that experience to decide whether they want to do band in high school or not.

LG: How does playing with the 8th graders impact the Law band

MP: It definitely made us sound a lot bigger, there was 8th graders form two middle school bands, so it basically doubled us in size. So, there was a lot more bodies which makes a lot more volume which was very nice for our group. And those bodies actually got to hear what was coming from the high school students, and blend their sound with the high school students that are playing the parts more appropriately and correctly then they are. So, if they were struggling with something that they were learning in the middle school, they didn’t really have a student to model it for them, they only had their teacher to model it. They could really follow an older students while they were going through this, which is a really great experience for those kids to see how to blend in a really big ensemble.

LG: How do you think playing with the 8th graders impacts them, and their music?

MP: It’s definitely a really great experience for the 8th graders to come up and perform with us. A lot of the students don’t really know what a high school band really looks like. They saw us in the uniforms and a lot of students really appreciated that the band had their own uniforms and they look very nice. A lot of the students didn’t know that it was taken so seriously at the high school, and that it’s what students do, it’s the activity that students choose to participate in, along with other students that do other activities as well. Some students really make band their priority, and they didn’t know that they could do that as much. 

LG: Will you continue to do more performances with the 8th graders in the future?

MP: Absolutely, we are going to continue to always do more performances with the 8th graders and other middle schools students. In March, we have a Music in Our Schools Month concert that is our biggest combined concert that we do. All of the bands in all of Milford get together and play at that, so it’s a really big performance opportunity for everyone to get together and play some of the same stuff.