Jeremy Ketterer is a member of East Stroudsburg University\u2019s band, and he\u2019s on the Brian Hodge bandwagon. Hodge, hired as assistant professor of theatre at ESU, will also serve as ESU\u2019s band director.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, he\u2019s done a tremendous job,\u201d said Ketterer,\u00a0a sophomore majoring in computer science from Sellersville, Pa. \u201cHe has brought a lot of organization to our band. He\u2019s been able to get a lot of things done. He\u2019s bringing incredible ideas, and taking our band to new heights.\u201d<\/p>\n
For years prior to the 2018-19 season, ESU did not have a full-time band director.<\/p>\n
Hodge is doing everything he can to put together a show that the 50-plus band members will not only enjoy but be proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I can tell, they are loving the energy we are bringing,\u201d Hodge said. \u201cI think everyone appreciates that the university hired someone full time, and they\u2019re really digging into what has been given them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe response has been wonderful from the students,\u2019 Hodge said. \u201cThey have really\u00a0bought into what we are trying to build here. I think we have a shared vision for what this can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are excited to have such an accomplished band director and scholar to\u00a0breathe new life into the band program at ESU, and the surrounding Northeastern Pennsylvania music community,\u201d said Margaret J. Ball, DMA, professor of theatre and interim associate dean for the college of arts and sciences.\u00a0 Professor Ball was chair of the theatre department when Hodge was hired.<\/p>\n
The halftime performances at ESU football games at Eiler-Martin Stadium will include music from Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members The Kinks, Led Zeppelin and Ozzy Osbourne.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are putting together a pretty killer show,\u201d Hodge said. \u201cI am really taking advantage of how quickly the students are learning on the field. I\u2019m writing one of the most difficult shows I have ever written, and they are eating it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very happy and so proud of the progress we are making,\u201d Hodge said.<\/p>\n
The hours were long for Hodge and ESU\u2019s band members late this summer. Days started\u00a0at 9 a.m. There were breaks for lunch and dinner, before things wrapped up daily around 9 p.m.<\/p>\n
The hard work and long hours have not discouraged Ketterer and his band mates. In fact, they respect the effort and dedication Hodge has put in.<\/p>\n
Previously, Hodge was assistant band director at the University of Arizona, as well as interim director of instrumental music at Rhodes College, a small liberal arts school in Memphis, and director of bands at Sullivan North High School in Kingsport, Tenn.<\/p>\n
He is drawing from his experiences working with bands small and large, and writing music with the ESU band specifically in mind.<\/p>\n
That hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he is writing new music for us,\u201d Ketterer said, \u201che is able to tailor it to our band so we have a unique presentation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that he can write music for us, specifically, has been really nice and lets us reach our full potential. If we don’t have a lot of one particular instrument for a certain song, he makes sure that his song writing takes that into account. We are very excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hodge also believes some credit for the current state of the ESU band program belongs to past, part-time directors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can only invest so much into it,\u201d he said. \u201cNow it\u2019s my job to get them growing\u00a0and improving. These students are wonderful to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to grow and build a legacy, and that\u2019s what they really want to have here. I want to be a conductor who is committed to them,\u201d said Hodge. He believes there are bright days ahead. \u201cThere are a lot of good things that will happen for these kids, and I\u2019m excited to see it all unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Warrior Marching Band\u2019s first performance under Hodge\u2019s direction will be at the Warrior Football home opener on\u00a0Saturday, Sept. 8, at Eiler-Martin Stadium at 6:05 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ESU welcomes Brian Hodge as director of the Warrior Marching Band. Hodge and the marching band will take the field during Saturday\u2019s football home opener<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":17753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider","category-theater"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17751"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17756,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17751\/revisions\/17756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}