The West Bend Current

Suddenly left without a director, the West Bend High Schools’ band has been forced to improv.

After already having to adapt to recent changes made to the band program, the WBHS band faced yet another shock when Eric Coombs resigned in December from his new position as the band director. Students are now unsure of what will happen with the program moving forward.

In April 2024, Leah Duckert-Kroll announced that she would be leaving her long-time job as a band director. Students were devastated by this news. Duckert-Kroll, also known as “Ducky” by her many students, had shaped much of what the band program is today throughout her 22 years leading the band.

Duckert-Kroll’s final concert was an emotional one. After finishing a long-held tradition of giving the seniors a “yellow rose of friendship” at their final concert, a large bouquet of yellow roses was brought out for Duckert-Kroll and many speeches were made in her honor.

“Duckert leaving last year, it came as a total shock for me,” drum major and West senior Conner Trahan said. “I don’t know if anyone saw, but I was crying on stage. I was like, ‘I’m going to be fine, this is going to be a breeze.’ Then when the yellow rose of friendship came out, I was gone.”

Students were then informed that the new director would be former Badger Middle School band director Eric Coombs. Though disappointed with Duckert-Kroll’s decision to leave, students were happy to hear that a familiar face would be taking the director position at the high schools. However, a new director still means new ideas to adjust to for the students who are largely involved in band.

Throughout the first semester many changes both small and big had been implemented. Some of the changes included concert attire, field show memorization technique, color guard’s positions on the field, requirements for the Honors Wind Ensemble band, and chair and instrument placements within the band.

“I feel that when Mr. Coombs stepped in, we were not ready for the changes,” drum major and West junior Nicole Hagglund said. “It took students a couple rehearsals to get used to him, but once we all settled in, things went relatively well.”

After slowly starting to match the rhythm of these new adjustments, the band was left in shock when Coombs suddenly resigned from his position right as winter break began.

“He quit out of nowhere,” Hagglund said. “Nobody could see it coming, and it was hard to think I never got to say goodbye. We just got an email one day saying he quit and that was that.” 

Upon coming back to school from winter break, Jerry Becker began acting as a long-term substitute band director and will also be taking over Pulse, the WBHS jazz band, for the remainder of the school year. Corey Murphy, the high schools’ assistant band director, is also switching from being at Badger Middle School in the mornings, and the high schools in the afternoons, to being at WBHS full time.

However, especially with the struggles of prepping for the recent spring break trip to New Orleans, students have questioned what will happen to the band moving forward.

“There is so much change happening that we don’t know how to accept it,” Trahan said.

Becker is also learning to adjust to his current position.

“There are a lot of kids in band, so learning names has been a tall order,” Becker said. “Also, learning how everything is done here. I’ve been the stunt double for all of the music department teachers for the past few years, so I’m pretty familiar with the place, but my only other ‘long term’ stint here has been in choir, which is a whole different animal.”

Despite the challenges, Becker loves the new role he is taking on and has appreciated how students welcomed him with kindness.

“When I am conducting and the band really hits it, I feel immensely honored to share in their music and be a part of their ensemble,” Becker said. “I spend a lot of the day smiling (inside and out) and it’s all because of the students. (Well, the other teachers in the department add some too…) I’m grateful to have had the chance to spend six months here in the band and almost four years with the music department as a whole. My thanks to them all.”

During the trip to New Orleans, the students marched and performed pep music rather than classical concert music. Becker does not have experience in marching and did not go on the New Orleans trip, leaving Murphy the only one to prepare and guide the students.

Hagglund was nervous about the trip, but remained confident the band would meet the challenge. Murphy was excited to be able to take students on such a special trip and share the WBHS band with another community.

“Planning and preparing the band for a tour undoubtedly added more to the plate but it was 100% worth it,” Murphy said. “We (had) an excellent group of students going and an extremely supportive team of parent/coach chaperones helping to make this possible. And… we (had) beignets.”

Even though this year continues to be a struggle for many band students, Trahan has a positive outlook on the situation, saying that it’s a really good life lesson.

“Nothing’s going to stay the same forever,” Trahan said. “You just have to adapt to the changes. You just have to roll with the punches, and then eventually after rolling with them long enough, you learn how to dodge it, and you learn how to take those punches on and hit life back in the face. I think the fact that we had lost Ducky and Coombs is so beneficial to learning how to cope and adjust to difficult and stressful situations in life.”

Band, to many students, is considered a family. It is an extracurricular that helps students learn more than just musical abilities and instrument-playing skills.

Murphy has watched with pride as students showed maturity throughout this time of unexpected transition. In December he spoke with each band about the opportunities found in such challenges.

“Since then, we’ve performed one high school band concert, two guest appearances at other band concerts, two jazz festivals, a dozen pep bands, one Wisconsin Herd game performance and over 50 district Solo & Ensemble performances. Nearly 30 of them are state-bound,” Murphy said. “This train don’t stop.”

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(Top image: Jerry Becker conducting the ninth grade Concert Band. Photo taken by Shaylee Swillinger, Current Staff.)