{"id":29842,"date":"2026-02-16T18:09:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T00:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/?p=29842"},"modified":"2026-02-24T12:56:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:56:24","slug":"then-now-the-band-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/2026\/02\/16\/then-now-the-band-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Then & Now: The Band Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheFrom Gavin Thorson ’22<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I look forward to my graduation this May from Montana State University, reflecting on how I\u2019ve grown as an academic and as a human during my time in Bozeman, I have often thought about the version of myself that was in a similar position four years ago, in the waning months of my senior year at Mounds Park Academy. This review of the last four years of my life dredged up some of my fondest memories of that spring of 2022, and perhaps my happiest memories are of playing trumpet in the band.<\/p>\n

The band program at MPA is special, and not least because of how it began. In 1983, music educator Sarah Kumagai was looking for a change. She had bounced between schools for years, and in those days when men dominated education, opportunities for serious advancement were nonexistent. A friend steered her in the direction of MPA: \u201ca new, progressive school.\u201d At her meeting with Bob and Sandy Kreischer, Kumagai proposed a band program which stipulated that each band student receive individual lessons. Only through one-on-one lessons would students ever receive the care and attention necessary to improve their musical skills. Other programs often grouped students together, which was detrimental in Kumagai\u2019s view.<\/p>\n

The Kreischers were ready and willing to take on a young woman as their band director, and regarding her proposal about lessons, they replied: \u201cGreat \u2014 do it!\u201d<\/p>\n

So began Kumagai\u2019s 18-year tenure at MPA, which saw the school\u2019s enrollment blossom and its music program similarly thrive. Students received individual lessons, and the volume of students eventually required the employment of an additional staff member for the band program. Eventually, Kumagai was working with the drama department on producing Broadway musicals, which provided challenging scores for Kumagai\u2019s students who played in the pit band. MPA grew bigger and bigger and sent its many graduates off into the world with pleasant memories of making music with friends. \u201cThank you,\u201d is what they say to Kumagai when they see her now. She says to them, \u201cThank you for playing with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decades have passed since Kumagai\u2019s time, and now Ms. Renae Wantock, with the help of Mr. Lukas Skrove, has taken up the mantle of steering the school\u2019s band program. Wantock says that, despite all the changes that have happened over time, the band program still focuses on the individual needs of students and what is necessary for them to succeed in music. In this regard, and despite changes in staffing and facilities over the years, the program remains the same. Just as with Kumagai, students come back to Wantock and thank her for the invaluable experiences they received at MPA.<\/p>\n

The influence of playing in band and of music education on MPA\u2019s graduates cannot be overstated. Now, when I recall playing \u201cChorale and Shaker Dance,\u201d \u201cGhost Run,\u201d and Bernstein\u2019s \u201cSomewhere\u201d from West Side Story, and the unforgettable \u201cBirdland,\u201d I can\u2019t help but think of all the lessons Renae Wantock\u2019s band classes taught me and how they have served me \u2014 even in a chemistry degree! Chief among these lessons is to accept one\u2019s mistakes with grace. So what if you think you ruined a concert by adding an extra note to the end of the last song? In band, mistakes are inevitable and are treated with compassion. In time, and with much practice, each student painstakingly works their way towards excellence.<\/p>\n

Sitting in this Bozeman coffee shop, I feel a tinge of regret that during all these years in the mountains, I\u2019ve only played my trumpet two or three times. I miss the struggle to perfect one\u2019s tone, to play ever-so-precisely in tune with the rest of the ensemble, to revel in the ecstasy of a Friday evening performance dressed in my concert black. For many, that time is an irreplicable, indelible memory. Their horns, oboes, or saxophones become rusted or are passed on to another generation. Perhaps we ought not to let those times slip by so easily, though. Perhaps the next time I stop by MPA, I\u2019ll make my way to the band room, sheepishly ask Ms. Wantock if I could borrow a trumpet for a moment, and we\u2019ll play once more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Gavin Thorson ’22 As I look forward to my graduation this May from Montana State University, reflecting on how I\u2019ve grown as an academic and as a human during my time in Bozeman, I have often thought about the version of myself that was in a similar position four years ago, in the waning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":29843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,19,24,29,9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-school","category-alumni","category-featured-posts","category-homepage","category-lower-school","category-upper-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29842"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29888,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29842\/revisions\/29888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}