Parents and music educators in the Wallingford Swarthmore Music Association (WSMA) work towards making the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District music department accessible and inclusive, supporting teachers, and celebrating music.
The organization enables many programs to improve the music department including the Concert Closet and Heartstrings. They also fund and advertise various music scholarships.
The Concert Closet is a program at WSMA that provides kids in music ensembles with any clothes or special garments they’d need to perform, such as the black and white outfits musicians need for band concerts.
“Sometimes people don’t realize how when you have access to something, it seems like no big deal,” WSMA president Mr. Andrew Lipke says. “Like my daughter, she’s in the show [Strath Haven Middle School Newsies musical]. She’s one of the featured dancers, and she needs character shoes. It’s no big deal for us to order character shoes, but there might be some people who are struggling with a financial problem.”
The Concert Closet aims to ensure all students have the chance to participate musically, regardless if they have the required clothing beforehand.
“As a young person, it can be debilitating and embarrassing for you if you feel like you can’t do the show because you don’t have the right outfit,” Lipke says. “I think it’s really great that there’s an organization that understands that that can be the difference between a student participating and a student not participating.”
The Heartstring Program, another WSMA program, provides donated instruments or buys new ones with fundraising money to students who can’t afford them.
“It increases access and reduces barriers,” band director Mr. Nicholas Pignataro said. “Barriers to music education are things that make kids not able to join. You can’t join a band because you don’t have an instrument. I know how important music is to people. It builds citizenship and makes you a better person. It makes you able to focus and make friends. I’d hate to turn somebody away to miss an opportunity because of money or because of time.”
The WSMA also fundraises for and promotes the George Slick Fellowship, named for former superintendent George H. Slick. The fellowship is gifted to an artistically gifted high school student and includes the George Slick Grant, which gives students the opportunity and funds to dedicate to music at the highest level.
In addition to George Slick, WSMA promotes the Jack Hontz Foundation, named in memory of a longtime Strath Haven music teacher. The foundation gives students financial assistance to pursue their artistic careers and also distributes awards and endowments.
In addition to supporting several large scale programs, the WSMA looks to support the music program, even in the smallest of ways.
“If the jazz band is playing in Media, they organize to have people help to get the music stands there, the chairs there, and get snacks for the kids, or if students need rides to rehearsal,” WSMA chairman Mr. James Fischer said.
While WSSD music teachers are tied up teaching and running the objectively large music department, WSMA parents fill in the blanks and maintain a large presence in the community.
“I think that for the teachers, it would be so overwhelming if we had to do this ourselves, because we’re just getting ready for the concerts, but they’ve been the voice of the community and take it upon themselves to really do these fundraisers and help us in any way they can,” Fischer said. “With such a big music program, we could really use the extra help.”
The WSMA will continue to carry out their music programs. They have a few meetings a year where they promote membership, fundraisers, and drives to provide materials for their programs.
WSMA will continue to follow their central goal: to make music available and accessible to all.
“I think it’s really valuable because the idea is you want as many people as possible to take advantage of the incredible music programs that the schools have,” Lipke said. “You don’t want any obstacles to be in their way and if there are, you want to do everything you can to alleviate those.”
