01907 Spring 2021

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And the band
played on
On March 17, 2020, just one week away
from its annual spring concert with the
jazz and percussion ensemble, Swampscott
High School band members were stunned
to learn that the school was ordered shut
down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was kind of surreal when it
happened at first,” said Edi Rovi, who is
in his sixth year as Swampscott’s band
director. “We actually were talking about
moving the concert up a week so we could
get it in with no worries, but there were
scheduling conflicts that got in the way so
that didn’t happen.”
In the year since, Rovi and the
Swampscott band have had to endure
a litany of changes, adjustments,
disappointments and learning.
The Swampscott High School band
is a typical high school marching band of
31 members, with woodwind, brass and
percussion instruments making up the group
— which Rovi calls “well-balanced” in terms
of the numbers of each instrument type.
There is also a separate jazz and percussion
ensemble, and the band collaborates often
with the Swampscott High chorus.
The band is normally busy for the entire
calendar year. Starting with band camp in
August, a normal year for the musicians
consists of performing at football games
in the fall, visiting the annual University
BY MIKE ALONGI
of Massachusetts Band Day in November,
holding concerts in December, March
and May, performing at the graduation
ceremony and performing at both the Lynn
and Nahant Memorial Day parades.
“Our schedule is usually pretty full for
the entire year,” said Rovi, who teaches
a host of music classes at Swampscott
High including introduction to drums,
introduction to guitar, history of rock,
music technology and many others. “It
was definitely a drastic change for us to go
from always preparing for a performance
to not having anything to look forward to.
But we’ve been able to make the best of it
regardless.”
Naturally, every performance over the
past 11 months has been canceled and the
Swampscott band hasn’t performed for a
live audience in over a year. But that doesn’t
mean they’re not meeting.
Band camp was canceled in August, but
students began meeting again after school
in late October. Rovi meets with his band
members weekly, and the band has adjusted
to not being able to all be in the same place
at once due to safety protocols.
“We started meeting virtually pretty
early on after things were shut down, but
we ran into the fact that performing via
BAND, page 10
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Swampscott High School
sophomore Ian Stadtlander plays
percussion as he practices with the
concert band.
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