By Brianna Holliday ‘28
Students from the Conestoga Valley Marching Band have been through a lot of change. Over the last 6 years the Conestoga Valley Marching Band has had 3 directors: Brandon Nase, Aaron Magaro, and Andrew Jasinski.
Nase was the band teacher and marching band director but is now teaching at York Suburban Middle School. He was described as “persistent” by most of the students who knew him.
Relatively few CV high school students had Brandon Nase, but many of the current Conestoga Valley Marching Band had Magaro. Magaro is the current orchestra director and music teacher, formerly the band director and marching band director. Students said he added his own fun flair, but didn’t push as hard as Jasinski.
Jasinski is the current band director, Marching Band director and music teacher. He was originally teaching in Massachusetts. Marching Band members describe him as fun, but say he still pushes the students to do their best – the fun will come after they’ve worked hard.
According to senior Clairse Saunders, “I’ve grown to like Mr. J because he pushes us harder because he knows we can do better and he sees our potential.” Saunders has been in the CVMB for 6 years and has had all 3 of these directors.
Gwen Unruh (12), one of the CVMB’s drum majors, said, “With a new band director you get a lot of new traditions.” She added, “The experience is different. Mr J tends to push a lot more than last year, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing to either one of them. Mr J was in the US bands in Massachusetts so that will switch to a more intense director for sure.”