Photo submitted by Tom Pavlock
Tom Pavlock is currently in his 26th year as a teacher at Johnsonburg High School.

By Greg Reedy
Sports Editor

Months of work culminated with a busy fall for Johnsonburg band and a halftime show which Johnsonburg band director Tom Pavlock was quite satisfied with.
Pavlock has seen numbers in the band rise and he has 42 this year.
"We’ve increased our numbers this year. We’re up to 42, which I’m real happy about," Pavlock said. "We marched in the Renovo Parade and all of our football games. We have the Christmas parade and a Halloween Parade. We’re going to Band-A-Rama at Penn State next weekend. We’ve had dances. We’re getting ready for our trip next year, we’re going to Virginia Beach taking kids down there."
In addition, Pavlock said the concert band is getting ready for Christmas as is the chorus.
"It’s a busy, busy year," Pavlock said.
Pavlock said preparation for the football halftime show starts during the summer.
"I do lessons throughout the summer so that way I don’t lose the kids," Pavlock said. "We do two days a week and they come in and come down for lessons."
Pavlock is in his 26th year at Johnsonburg. He graduated from Johnsonburg and then graduated from college at Youngstown State University. Coming back to Johnsonburg was not in his original plans.
"We had 70-90 kids in the band and that got me fairly interested," Pavlock said. "I went to Youngstown State University. I actually hadn’t planned on coming back to Johnsonburg. I came back and was looking for a job and one opened up here. The gentleman that was here, Paul Thompson, had left. They came to me and said since you’re an assistant on the side, would you like the position. I said ‘Yeah, that would be great.’ I’m pleased to be in my hometown doing this."
With that much experience, Pavlock said he has established a routine.
"I know at this time you have to get ready, at this time you got to do this," Pavlock said. "You know which time of the year things have to get started."
With 42 members of the band this year, Pavlock is happy with the turnout, especially since the band had fewer members recently.
"We were way down in numbers about three years ago, really down," Pavlock said. "I know a lot of bands have the same problem. I talked to the Elk County Catholic band director, Ray Knight. Ray and I were talking back and forth and he said ‘You got to get back in the elementary. Just get down there and talk to the kids.’ I think that’s the thing. That’s how you get them, you get those kids at a younger age, keep them interested all the way through. I’m band, but I’m also pro-sports and pro-cheerleading too. We had two cheerleaders in and a football player. It was wonderful, I’m 100 percent to do both if they can."
With so few members a few years ago, Pavlock did admit to getting discouraged.
"We were down to eight players, five flags and three or four majorettes," Pavlock said. "Yeah, you get really discouraged. We talked to the administration, they agreed that something had to happen. I said I was more than happy to put this extra time in because it’s my program and I really want It to go. There were years where people were just knocking on your door saying ‘Can I join band?’ Then there was like a drought. We just started selling it. We started getting the kids involved and we had 42 this year."
He credits Johnsonburg Elementary School music teacher Richard Zeigler and Johnsonburg Elementary School instrumental music teacher Patricia Luckenbill for getting students prepared with the fundamentals of music before coming to the high school.
Pavlock wants the students to be challenged in the music which they play.
"I want them to have a good time, I want them to learn, I want them to go to the next level," Pavlock said. "We always try to push it for kids to play a little bit harder music, play something that’s going to challenge them, not just the easy stuff. I want to push it so they get to know their instruments better."
Pavlock is quick to point out he can't do everything with the band by himself.
"I have two good instructors, Renee Blankenship and Donna Shuey," Pavlock said. "They’re both excellent people in what they do. Our halftime has fire. Renee does a lot of stuff with dance and it’s like, I don’t know how one person could do it all because you just can’t. I understand percussion, instruments and then we put it all together for a show."
As for the halftime show, work on that begins months in advance.
"We actually start around March and April," Pavlock said. "We work through Marching Show Concepts and they have different shows, different pieces of music and I get the kids together, the older ones and some of the younger ones and we go through them and say ‘Yes, we can do this one or no, we can’t do that.’ By the time we’re ready to do lessons during the summer, they know what their show is going to be. We work it through the summer and we’re ready for it when we go to band camp in August."
The show features "Monkey Wrench" by Foo Fighters, then transitions into "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Livin' on a Prayer" both by Bon Jovi.
"Bon Jovi had this show out for a couple years but I didn’t like the first off the line number, the first tune, so I didn’t do it," Pavlock said. "Then, Marching Show Concepts changed it so you could pick and choose," Pavlock said. "The kids they picked what I wanted to do the last couple of years. We went off the line with Foo Fighters' "Monkey Wrench" and 'Wanted Dead or Alive' and 'Livin' on a Prayer.' They picked almost exactly what I wanted to do. A pretty high-intensity show that showcased a lot of the kids."
Pavlock said the satisfaction was immense when all the elements of the show came together.
"When that show finally comes together, and I’m probably like every band director in this area, you just keep your fingers crossed and you’re like ‘This time, is everything going to work exactly the way it should?’" Pavlock said. "When it finally comes together, you’re sitting there going, ‘This is what I did it for. This is the whole thing, this is why."     
Pavlock is also getting students ready for District Band. He spoke about the differences in teaching notes in selection for that event.
"I just got my District Band music last week and since we're a small school, we only are taking one, Mike Kennedy on trumpet," Pavlock said. "Something like that, you almost dismantle the music and then put it back together. You dismantle it so he can see each part so he knows what to play. I'm hoping he's 99.9 percent sure what he's going to try out on. You can take a look at the music and you can say that's the section that they're going to do. It's the same with choral music."
He said the Internet has helped in preparing choral students for different notes and different languages.
"Everything's on the Internet. Before, it used to be if you didn't know it, too bad," Pavlock said. "Now you can go on the Internet, you can hear examples. Japanese, Yiddish, it's tough. With the computer, it makes things a lot easier."
Students have told Pavlock how the music has come together once they have gone to a district event.
"A lot of them realize doing this isn't just 'Oh, I'm going to play and that's it.' It's almost like doing a math problem or figuring out something for English or history or physics," Pavlock said. "You have to rehearse every little thing in order to put that whole thing into a whole whenever they go to District Band or District Chorus. It all comes together at that point. It may seem disjointed before they get there. I've had kids go, 'I didn't know that whole thing would make me feel that good playing it.' I think that's the thing that's worth it."
Pavlock said he's part of a group of directors which help each other out.
"What's really nice is I know every director in the district, a lot of them in regionals I know," Pavlock said. "When we go to football games, I'll call up and I'll say I need something, they call me with a need or a favor. It's almost like a brotherhood type of thing. I think the kids are that way too. A lot of my students in marching band or IU9 band or district band, a lot of those people, they're friends with them for the rest of their lives. It's really nice in that way."
Pavlock expresses appreciation to his wife for her support and understanding.
"She's originally from Buffalo and I don't think she realized how much it took to do stuff like that but now I think she does," Pavlock said.