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City schools band hits high notes
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Jah-Nice Berry’s tiny frame belies the big sound she gets as a drummer in the Youngstown Schools Citywide Marching Band.
The Youngstown Early College senior likes it that way.
“I love playing the drums,” Jah-Nice, 17, said. “I love the bass drum. You can play it with such authority.”
When the 5-foot percussionist straps on the harness that holds the bass drum in place, the instrument covers more than half of her body.
“People look at me and think, ‘Oh, my God, why is she carrying that big drum?’” Jah-Nice said.
She’s one of a small number of city school students participating this week in summer band camp. The camp runs for the next few weeks at the Chaney campus.
Thirteen musicians gathered in the school’s band room Wednesday morning, learning the music before they begin marching on the field.
This marks the second year that Shawn Marko has led the city schools band. He hopes more students join in as band camp and the school year progress.
“Last year, we had about 40 students,” Marko said. “There were eight the year before.”
This year, the band received a grant from The Rayen Foundation for new drums, drum cases and harnesses. That’s a boost, the director said.
He believes it’s important the district continue to offer band – which provides students with stability and a way to express themselves.
Marko led the young musicians through the Bruno Mars hit, “Uptown Funk,” followed by “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Marko switched from flute, to baritone, to trumpet leading the players through different portions of the pieces.
He challenges the flute section: Whoever successfully plays a series of notes in “Uptown Funk” correctly and at the right tempo will get a candy bar of his or her choice.
“Plus a whole heap of self- worth and confidence,” he said.
Zaylenn Brown, 14, an eighth-grader at Rayen Early College Middle School, and Vada Cline, 13, an eighth-grader at Chaney, are among those competing for the prize.
Zaylenn has been playing flute for six years, but this marks his first year at band camp and first time marching.
“It’s pretty awesome,” he said. “I’m learning things and will get the feeling of playing for a high-school football team.”
He’s looking forward to it.
It’s Vada’s first time at band camp, too.
“It’s really fun and challenging and it’s nice to have this educational opportunity,” she said.
She’s never marched before either, but hopes it runs in the family. Her mother and grandmother both played in marching bands when they were in high school, performing in Florida and New York City’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, respectively.
They also played flute.
“It’s like a family tradition,” Vada said.
Shawn Grace, 16, a junior at Chaney, started playing saxophone in fifth grade and switched to baritone sax about a year and a half ago.
He said band and band camp is a positive experience.
“It builds character by being able to work with people,” he said.
Anthony Gill, a 2015 Mathews High School graduate, is helping at this year’s camp as an adviser for the percussion section. He’s studying music education at Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music.
Gill sees the arts as crucial to education and wants to help other young people gain the knowledge that music teachers imparted to him.
Music offers a way to express yourself, he said.
“I want to help them become top performers and to become high achievers,” Gill said.
Marko expresses similar sentiments.
“We do have good things going on in the Youngstown schools and we want to keep it going,” he said.