Grant keeps Chapelle band members ‘in tune’

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

Developing a love of music and lifelong friends is what the band program accomplishes at Archbishop Chapelle High School in Metairie.

Currently comprising more than 30 students in all grades, the band – through the direction of band director Nick Broussard – offers beginner, intermediate and advanced instruction levels. Broussard has been directing the band the past five years and says Chapelle has a storied history of cultivating high-performance musicians through various activities such as its marching band, jazz band, Christmas concerts, district festivals and its cooperation with Archbishop Rummel for the co-educational Raider Band.

“It’s a big commitment,” he said of band membership, with in-class instruction two to three times a week, and after-school rehearsals three to four times weekly (includes Raider Band practices for advanced members). Broussard works with Raider Band directors to select music, with some input from students. Music has included “Cold Hearted (an arrangement of the Paula Abdul song “Cold Hearted Snake”), New Orleans song “Do Whatcha Wanna” from the Rebirth Brass Band, “Grazing in the Grass,” Earth, Wind and Fire’s “Sing a Song,” Cameo’s “Word Up, ”“All of the Lights” and, of course, the Raider fight song at Rummel athletic events.

“A lot of these (Chapelle) students go on to do music (in college), and some pursue music careers,” Broussard said.

Pearl Harbor performance
Just recently, advanced band members, who are members of the Rummel High School Raider Band, spent five days in Hawaii to participate in the anniversary celebration of the surprise Japanese bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. The Raider Band performed on the dock next to the USS Missouri, in a pre-parade concert with other bands and marched in the Pearl Harbor Memorial parade Dec. 7 in Honolulu. The Raider band was the only Louisiana band in this year’s celebration, Broussard said. Chapelle’s dance team, the Chapelletes, accompanied the band in Hawaii.

Broussard said the band was asked to play New Orleans-style music for their performance at Pearl Harbor. They also perform at Disney World in a parade on the Imagination Campus every other year, and, in 2019, performed in Washington, D.C.

“I got to see how every culture has a different type of music that is important to their culture,” senior Abbigail Winingham, who plays a percussion instrument, said about going to Hawaii as a Raider Band member and visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center. She is considering studying music and will audition to be a college band member at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the fall. “It was cool seeing that, no matter your culture, you can enjoy the music from another culture” while in Hawaii.

“It was a great opportunity for the Raider Band to get out there,” sophomore Brielle Matherne, who plays the mellophone, said of Hawaii. She also enjoys performing at football games and in concert.

Boost for program
Over the past eight years, Archbishop Chapelle’s band program has been the recipient of New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation’s Community Partnership Grants that have enabled the school to buy various instruments such as a euphonium and a flute, and also a MacBookPro that is used to manipulate thousands of virtual instruments on a keyboard. The grants, up to $5,000 annually, are part of the foundation’s ​​Jazz & Heritage In-School Education Programs in Music, Arts, and Cultural Traditions category for Louisiana school music programs in kindergarten through 12th grades. Chapelle graduate Taylor Sparacello initially made Chapelle aware of this grant program.

“The grant money is our lifeline,” said Broussard, adding that Chapelle matches the grants and provides instruments for students on loan. “I would have nothing if it wasn’t for the Jazz and Heritage grant. It’s pretty focused on instruments, and, over the years, we’ve been able to build up our instruments (and rely less on borrowing them from Rummel) and other needs such as xylophone cleaning supplies, drumsticks … and our wish list.”

Winingham joined the beginner band on a whim due to needing an elective and now loves it. She tried the flute, but switched to vibraphone, purchased through the Jazz and Heritage Foundation grant.

“I love the people I am around,” she said about the band. “There’s a community of people that like the same stuff as I do. It’s really cool, and I’ve made a lot of good friends by doing this.”

For eighth grader Skylar MacKenzie Manuel, who is in advanced band, music is a family tradition. She said her grandfather Wayne Danos was a first generation Raider Band member.

“This is an amazing choice for me,” Manuel said, knowing she will continue music throughout her life. “I love the band and all the friendships I’ve made. It’s a great experience. She added that her friends were jealous she went to Hawaii as a Raider Band member. “Music teaches me new things, and it makes me happy when I play.”

Band provides a “holistic, busy yet wonderful band music experience in high school,” where members enjoy their time and make lifelong friends, Broussard said. 

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