Members of the Lampeter-Strasburg (L-S) middle school band and high school marching band worked on fine-tuning for the fall during a camp July 28 through Aug. 1.

It was a hectic week for high school band director Larry Royer, who worked with the middle-schoolers in the mornings and the older students in the afternoons.

Royer had lots of help. Heather Ceresini, the Hans Herr Elementary School fourth and fifth grades band director, was instrumental in the mornings. "Heather helps me organize this camp, which is more than half of the work," Royer said. "We spend more time organizing it than we do actually with the kids, and she's an enormous help with that."

Assistant high school marching band director Ben Pontz returned to town for the camp. A lawyer, he lives in Michigan where he works for a federal judge. Pontz, the L-S valedictorian in 2016, attended Gettysburg College where he was the drum major of the marching band, and he graduated from Harvard Law School in the spring of 2024. Pontz has been a member of the L-S marching band staff since 2017.

Pontz writes the drill for the marching band unit. "The drill is how (the musicians) move around the field during the show," he explained. "There's software, and you have to put a dot down for every person, for every count of the show. It's a seven-and-a-half or eight-minute program, and so you write a bunch of different formations, and you have to see how they move from point A to point B to C and D and so on. That's how I choreograph all that movement."

He estimates it takes 100 hours to write the drill for an eight-minute show. Throughout the year, Pontz participates in staff meetings via Zoom and watches videos of performances.

"I think that the marching band and the music program in general at L-S was a big part of my experience in high school," Pontz said. "Larry Royer was my band director starting in fourth grade, and so we've been working together for 16 or 17 years, so I do it to be with him and work with the kids and give back to the program. And it's a good time, too. It's a sharp break from everything else I do."

Royer said, "Ben is invaluable. He makes the camp work for us, especially the high school. He sets the schedule. He writes the drill. His responsibility is to get that whole thing up and running, and his support is really what makes it happen."

The L-S high school marching band will perform a show called Rosa del Fuego at Pioneers football games and at four exhibitions. "It's three movements of Latin music, which is something we haven't done in many years," Pontz said. "We have a strong brass section and a strong color guard in particular this year, so we felt this was a year we could pull the trigger on that. And the kids are taking it in really well so far."

Royer added, "It's great to see each year that when one class leaves, and you think, 'Oh my goodness, what are we going to be without them?' But every year, other students step up, and they fill in those leadership roles. We knew that we had strong players in every section, and we wanted to take advantage of it."

During the festivals, judges provide commentary and feedback but don't give a numerical score. L-S will perform at Manheim Township on Saturday, Sept. 20; at Owen J. Roberts on Saturday, Oct. 4; at home on Saturday, Oct. 18; and at Ephrata on Saturday, Oct. 25.

L-S middle school and high school musicians welcomed a guest instructor on July 31. Andrew Hitz, who has taught at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, made his first visit to L-S.

"He does a lot of these sorts of clinics around the country," Royer said. "It's one of those things where the whole air in making sound is the most important thing. It's something I just kind of glaze over a little bit, but we've wanted it to hit home this year."

Andrew, who was one of Pontz's instructors at Gettysburg, estimates he has been to nearly 2,000 band rooms. L-S secured a grant from Jupiter Band Instruments to help offset the cost of Andrew's visit.

Andrew's wife, Tiffany, is a middle school band director who has worked as a guest conductor all over the country, so he easily relates to the younger students. "It's interesting that in middle school and high school and college it's all the same in terms of the knowledge, and it's also all the same that you have to deliver that knowledge with enthusiasm," he said. "That's what gets kids to buy in. A great teacher teaches the students that are in front of them. You just read the room, and the material is what the material is, but how you put it, when you put it, all of that stuff is just kind of dependent on each and every unique situation."

Andrew was impressed by what he witnessed at L-S. "It's been fantastic," he said. "I have literally never been on a wider stage in any school, anywhere. It's wonderful, and the auditorium is beautiful. It's really great to see a community that's so clearly supports the arts. ... I think that a community, a society that values the arts is a healthy community, and it's clear that you know that this place does with the facilities that I'm looking at, and the incredible educators. The kids here are very lucky."