The spirit of service is inspired by the legacy of the late Michael D. Sewell, who dedicated his life to school and community music programs in Pickerington and the Central Ohio area for more than 38 years. Mr. Sewell always said, “The most important gift you can give someone is your time.”

The national SERVICE THROUGH MUSIC program highlights contributions bands make to their communities while also giving musicians a way to share in the values and ideals of Saluting America's Band Directors. SERVICE THROUGH MUSIC is a unique program created especially for members of The Band Directors Marching Band and their students. 

Below and on the following pages is a sampling of current & past SERVICE THROUGH MUSIC projects submitted by members of The Band Directors Marching Band.

See an overview of our planned SERVICE THROUGH MUSIC performance in New York City preceding the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, as well as our local 9/11 events.

Mrs. Kimberly J. Tucker is the Director of Bands at Tennyson Middle School in Waco,  Texas and a clarinet player in The Band Directors Marching Band. This fall, band  students at Tennyson Middle School joined with musicians from other organizations to  perform not one, but two Service Through Music Events! 

On Friday, October 3rd, Mrs. Tucker led approximately 480 7th through 12th grade  band students at the Waco ISD Band Festival - an event that brought together all the  Advanced Bands in Waco ISD (Carver MS, Cesar Chavez MS, Lake Air MS, Tennyson  MS, University HS and Waco HS) to perform for the community. At this event, both high  school bands performed their halftime shows, both high school drumlines battled it out  and the two high school color guards came together to perform. In addition, the four  middle schools performed "Paint it Black" and "Thriller" together as a mass band and  then all six schools performed four high school stand tunes together - "Crazy in Band,"  "Green," "Jaws," and "Powerline" to the delight of assembled community members. 

On Friday, October 10th, Tennyson Middle School hosted a Hispanic Heritage  Celebration for the eighth grade classes. At the event, Mrs. Tucker conducted the TMS  Honors Band in playing an arrangement of "Amparito Roca," the Advanced Choir sang,  "Que Es La Vida," the Intermediate Orchestra performed an arrangement of the "Mexican Hat Dance" The celebration included readings of poems by various  students. 

Congratulations to the musicians at Tennyson Middle School and Waco ISD!

Members of the Garfield Heights High School Tri-M Chapter teamed with students from the Garfield Heights Middle School Tri-M Chapter to work our monthly food drive on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. This food drive provided much needed food assistance to 85 households in the Garfield Heights community, including 150 children.

Twenty-five high school and middle school students worked on this impactful project. N. Brett Dawson is the Director of Bands at Garfield Heights City Schools in northern Ohio. He is President-Elect of OMEA District 7 and an alto saxophone player in the Band Directors Marching Band.

Congratulations to the music students at Garfield Heights High School and Garfield Heights Middle School for their combined service to the community in the name of music!

Megan Hayes is a trumpet player in The Band Directors Marching Band and leads the Elmwood  Marching Royal Pride Band in northwest Ohio. Megan sends this report: 

“On Saturday Sept 20, 2025, I hosted my Elmwood Band Spectacular and had ten high school  bands attending. The night before, at our varsity football game, we dedicated the evening to first  responders. I continued that momentum into my event the next evening. The high school bands  combined, all ten of them with over 500 student performers, to open the spectacular with the  playing of the “Star Spangled Banner.” All first responders were honored and given a standing  ovation. 

“In our small farming region, first responders are the backbone of the community. This was  especially evident over the last few weeks during the drought that Northwest Ohio has  experienced. We have had many field fires and all of our small town community fire  departments travel to other areas to give a lending hand battling these fires, and providing care  for those affected. It goes to show that we can't survive on our own and we need to work  together and support each other.” 

Joining in to help make this Service Through Music project possible was BDMB clarinet player  Ben Pack who is the band director at North Baltimore High School. 

The ten bands participating in this project were: 

Elmwood Marching Royal Pride 

North Baltimore High School Marching Band  

New Riegel Marching Band 

Lakota Raider Band 

St. Francis Marching Knights 

Otsego High School Marching Band 

North Central High School Eagle Marching Band 

Delta High School Panther Marching Band 

Gibsonburg Marching Bears 

Sandusky High School Marching Band

Victor Lapalucci is the band director at Philip Barbour High School and the Immediate Past President of the West Virginia Bandmaster’s Association. He also plays saxophone in The Band Directors Marching Band. Victor sent this report of how music and “The Magic in Teamwork” is helping heal a community:

“We’ve taken a slightly different approach to this year’s Service Through Music Project, and I feel compelled to share what is proved a difficult and daunting time in our county, and the impeccable timing of this project. Our county has failed to pass funding for the last 23 years, and suffers from declining enrollment. With no other options, our central office has begun a series of public hearings that are the precursor to closing all of our community middle schools, and bringing them into our larger high school building. There is much divisiveness, negativity, and even parents threatening to remove their children from public school, due to the implications and results of these changes.

“This year, I invited the Band students and Music teachers of each school to our high school football game to play, as one group, the Star-Spangled Banner, in an effort to show the community what “The Magic in Teamwork“ can truly look like, and to assuage those feelings of trepidation brought on by our schools’ uncertain futures. Music has brought people together for millennia, and I truly hope this project will foster a sense of teamwork and cohesion that will bring our communities together, peacefully, under a single roof. We announced to the assembled crowd the purpose of this project and that it was part of the Rose Parade and Service Through Music.

“Thank you for the opportunity to complete this project that no one could’ve possibly imagined

would provide the framework that it would: that of one school, combining together to move forward, in success.”

Schools participating in the combined performance were Philip Barbour High School, Kasson

Middle School (Moatsville, WV), Belington Middle School (Belington, WV), and Philippi Middle

School (Philippi, WV).

On September 28, 2025, the Santa Cruz community experienced the true magic of teamwork  when nearly 200 performers from across the county came together for a one-of-a-kind  celebration. The “Mass Band Project,” held in support of Drew’s Lemonade Stand fundraiser,  combined the talents of student musicians, singers, and dancers in a powerful showcase of  artistry and community spirit. 

The event featured ensembles from across the region, including: 

∙ Santa Cruz High School Cardinal Regiment, directed by Christy Latham (a clarinet player in The Band Directors Marching Band) 

∙ Mission Hill Middle School, directed by Ryan Oberlin 

∙ Pajaro Valley High School, directed by Reed Alinaz 

∙ Cabrillo College Band, directed by Jeff deSeriere 

∙ Santa Cruz High School Jazz Choir, directed by Jorge Torres 

∙ Santa Cruz High School Dance Team, directed by Elizabeth Gentile 

Together, these groups created an unforgettable performance that celebrated collaboration,  musicianship, and the power of the arts to unite people of all ages. 

The effort went far beyond the stage. Through Drew’s Lemonade Stand, this joint performance  raised over $12,000 for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County, providing  more than 36,000 meals to families in need. 

This gathering highlighted how teamwork, generosity, and the arts can make a lasting impact— proving that when music, dance, and community come together, the results are nothing short of magical.

Shannon Crepps plays clarinet in The Band Directors Marching Band and is the band  director at Saeger Middle School. John Evans plays trumpet in The Band Directors  Marching Band and is the band director at Bryan Middle School. They are both on the  marching band staff at Francis Howell Central High School in eastern Missouri and are  both directors of The Spartan Community Band. They sent in the following report about  how student musicians and adults teamed up to use music in service: 

“Each year, we host a community band on our campus that serves our school district  and the surrounding community. The most recent performance was on March 10, 2025,  and this year’s concert will be held on March 16, 2026. The Spartan Community Band  is open to members of our 7th and 8th Grade Bands, high school students, alumni of  our programs, district staff members, and community members. Members attend five  rehearsals throughout February and March and perform in a concert in March to  celebrate Music in Our Schools Month. The Community Band began in 2012 with  around 60 members and has more than doubled in size over the last decade. For our  2025 Community Band concert, 150 musicians gathered to perform! Over 70 of these  musicians were current members of our middle school and high school band programs. In 2023, a Community Jazz Band was also added to this event! 

“The Spartan Community Band provides a great service to our community because it is  a way for those who are no longer a part of a school music program to continue to  perform! We have members ranging in age from 12 to 80! At our March 10, 2025  performance, we also hosted our school district’s Senior PALS (Patrons Assisting and  Lending Support) event for the quarter. Residents of our school district ages 55 and  older attended a dinner in our cafeteria before the concert, where they spent some time  learning about current events and initiatives in our school district. One of our 8th Grade  Band members and both directors of the Spartan Community Band also spoke to the  group about the importance of music education in our schools, the history of the  Spartan Community Band, and what the band has to offer to our community.” 

Congratulations to the many musicians of all ages in the Spartan Community Band.

Kathleen England plays trumpet in The Band Directors Marching Band. She is also the band and choir director at Plentywood Schools in Plentywood, Montana (15 miles from the Canadian border).

During homecoming celebrations, on September 26th, members of the Plentywood 7th and 8th grade band joined the Plentywood high school band and cheerleaders in the homecoming parade and coronation pep rally. A featured selection in their performances was “The Eye of the Tiger.”

Congratulations to the students in Plentywood, Montana for using the “Magic in Teamwork” and music to serve their school and community.  

The band came together three days before the parade to work on music and marching. It was a great experience to provide this opportunity of service to our community. We wanted to represent the power of " Collaboration / Teamwork " and show our community the Power of Music. We are hoping to make this a yearly tradition to bring our school music community together to foster growth, foster teamwork and to celebrate the greatest gift we can give to our community - Music!!!

Three members of The Band Directors Marching Band were among those leading the combined band: Joseph Windsor (West Field HS), Taylor Shinney (Orion JH), and Matthew Kenney (Roy HS). Other participating directors were Taylor Van Bibber (Weber HS), Timothy Koster (Bonneville HS), Tristan Reeder (Fremont HS), Kendrick Matheson (Snowcrest JH), David Sowby (Mountain View JH), Spencer Howe (Rocky Mountain JH), Kaden Byington (South Ogden JH), Lena Wood (Roy JH), Sam Wise (Sand Ridge JH), Christian Manly (North Ogden JH), Bryce Chamberlain (T.H. Bell JH), and Tristan Reeder (Wahlquist JH).

On Friday, September 26th. Students from the Lincoln Middle School Band joined the  Lincoln High School Band and performed during pregame of the high school football game. It was Military appreciation night and during pregame high school and middle  school students played The Star-Spangled Banner, The LHS Fight Song and The LHS  alma mater. Service members were honored during pregame with a coin flip done by a local veteran. All branches of the military and those who have served were recognized  in the first quarter of the game. 

Middle school students performed with the high school band as a “step-up” night for 8th grade students. The total 145 students performed in the combined band: 55  represented the 8th grade class at Lincoln Middle School, 90 from the Lincoln High  School Band.  

The band director at Lincoln Middle School is Shaylyn Dabbs who plays clarinet in The Band Directors Marching Band. 

Congratulations to band members at Lincoln Middle School and Lincoln High School for an outstanding Service through Music Project!