The band will be playing during Olympic ceremonies in London -- they just don't know which ones yet.
View full sizeSome Lehigh Valley students are among the members of the Mansfield University marching band going to the Olympics in London.On Jimmy Swavely’s first trip out of the country, he’ll be heading to London for the Olympics.
But the Notre Dame High School graduate and former Northampton Community College student won’t just be witnessing the games. He’ll be beating the drums as a member of the Mansfield University’s marching band.
He’s one of nine students from the Lehigh Valley among the 140-member Mansfield University band heading to the 2012 Olympics from Wednesday until Aug. 9.
Because of the heightened security around the games, he doesn’t exactly know his itinerary.
“We’re going to an event or two,” Swavely said. “I don’t know which ones, because the Olympic Committee keeps changing it on us.”
The exciting thing for Swavely is the proximity to the athletes, “being around all the people who are so great at what they do.”
But Swavely is no stranger to dedication. He’s been playing the drums for eleven years, and been involved in marching band since the fourth grade.
After school let out in May, he’s been meeting with the other 140 members of the marching band twice a month right up until the weekend of July 28.
Students involved paid half of the costs out of pocket, and earned the rest through fundraisers. The group will be broken down into a marching unit, a concert band, a brass band, a jazz combo and a Dixie-Land group.
View full sizeThe Mansfield University marching band will perform at some Olympic events.Other area students heading to London with the band are Easton Area High School alumnus Evan Hodick, Amber Frederick of Catasauqua, Jessica Mohr of Macungie, Rebecca Hamm of Slatington, Ryan Heiserman of Nazareth, Steven Johnson of Easton, and Tacie and Tanya Tews of New Tripoli.
After playing in London and Paris, band director Adam Brennan said he hopes to take the group to the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, a British memorial to American soldiers who died in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II and other cooperative campaigns. If they do play there, they’ll also perform a wreath-laying ceremony.
Students will also have a chance to attend at least one and possibly more Olympic events, Swavely said.
Swavely is not the only student getting a first chance to travel abroad, and Brennan knows it.
“To travel abroad … during the Olympics makes this a particularly exciting and educational opportunity,” Brennan said in a news release.
The bands played a sample of the music during a July 29 concert, a preview of which can be seen here.