Music programs in classrooms have been a vital part of education curriculums within schools ranging from elementary to high school for decades. Now, music programs are suffering from this year’s budget cuts, inflicting groups within VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) pro-grams across the district.

Band teacher Jeremy Dell, who has worked here for nine years, has concerns around budget cutbacks for the school band and its future, especially since he was reduced from fulltime as of this year.

For the past several years, Dell has developed the school’s music programs in hopes of one day having larger numbers, along with a cohesive band: a music program with all five bands. Currently, the program consists of Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Drumline and Jazz Band.

With numbers prior to the new building being fairly low–in addition to COVID-19 online classes–bringing in new people for the band has been a challenge. However, in the past couple years, an upward trend in numbers has been somewhat consistent ever since the new building, moving the program in a relatively positive direction.

“The numbers were pretty low when I started, and now they’re up to a level where they should be, and it’s continuing to grow,” Dell stated. 

Numbers in Wind Ensemble years ago had as little as single numbers, and as of today, has more than doubled, in addition to other bands growing. 

Achieving growth has been made difficult this year, as the freshmen band was cut, creating a “stuck point” for newcomers, Dell explained.

Dell discussed the district’s claims throughout the strike in 2023 and how depriving money from performing arts programs was mentioned and occurred.

“My program’s growing…I had the numbers to justify, but we still got cut, and that felt like a stab,” Dell said, “It would be like having Spanish 1, 2 and 3, but not having Spanish 1, and so it’s like you’re starting at the intermediate Spanish Level, which is really hard for a student to do. It’s kind of the same with music.” 

As of this year, budget cuts impacted nearly every department, according to principal Adam Skyles. For last year’s budget, a lot of decisions were made in regards to lower staff numbers, core class requirements, and class enrollments.

“We have no intention of cutting any program, but when we have to make really difficult strategic choices around staffing, some small things might have to go,” Skyles said. 

Because of this, any program that is under-enrolled (even with a healthy budget) is at risk of being cut: creating greater risks with a much smaller budget. Rather, instead of cutting programs as a whole, the decision was made to make smaller impacts on each department, so no one was at a complete loss.

Along with this, Skyles expressed immense understanding for teachers that were hit by cuts, as their advocacy and passion for their subjects is admirable. Most departments had little say in what was moved or cut, or in Dell’s case, picking what band would be left out was as much as they could do.

Now incoming freshmen are pushed into alternative bands requiring higher skill levels.

“We’ve gotten a lot bigger,” senior Elijah Eisenburg, a band participant for four years now, said. “This year we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores joining us in the Jazz Band.” 

With regard to further goals for the program, Eisenburg elaborates on some potential aspirations for the program like adding additional bands and creating even more connection to fellow music programs within PPS.

“I think it would be cool if at some point McDaniel could have an orchestra because that’s a thing a lot of schools have but we don’t,” Eisenburg said.

In regards to support and community amongst the band program, several students have expressed immense love, gratitude and importance for the band program. Junior Sofia Crafts being one of them.

“It gives me a purpose to be here,” Crafts explained. “For me, it’s the reason I come to school every day.”  

In addition to Crafts’ strong sense of community, it’s understood that many people don’t have a specific place to go or may feel disconnected from other groups in the school. Just as aspects around friendships and relationships have flourished, music is also an outlet for students to let go and freely express themselves without judgment. 

As Eisenburg explained, music is an outlet and a choice. Methods of articulation can range, but passion for music and harmonious sound remains a method of coping in addition to self expression. 

Yet, students aren’t the only ones who feel at home within the program. Dell comes from a place of understanding after longing for a place that felt right for him. After teaching for several years and connecting with students, families and teachers, Dell is confident in his staying put. 

“Finding a place where you fit in is important for everybody I think. For me, McDaniel is that community,” Dell said.

With regard to further goals for the program, Eisenburg elaborates on some potential aspirations for the program concerning additional bands, and even more connection to fellow music programs within PPS, with hopes of still creating a bigger band, despite the district is projecting more cuts for next year. 

Due to this, uncertainty around the future of all programs at McDaniel is in the air. Luckily, the tight-knit community along with care for music may induce creative ways to push through such obstacles.