‘Great potential’: Students impress new Gateway band director

However the saying goes about catching more flies with honey, Ryan Moser apparently prefers that approach.

Gateway High School’s director of bands listened intently as his students rehearsed a short section of a song during a mid-September practice. Then he commended them on a fine-sounding performance, especially considering that it’s not too far into the new academic year.

And for a scholastic marching band, each new year brings changes.

“We graduated a lot of seniors last year, so there are a lot of new faces,” Moser said. “About a third, maybe more, are seventh- and eighth-grade students. There’s definitely some youth in the band.”

Although he hardly is new to the band, having served as brass coordinator for several years, this marks Moser’s first season as director. He succeeds Sean McMasters, who continues to work with percussionists and coordinates drill design with Kelly McMasters-Parsons.

“We’re fortunate to have a really experienced staff,” Moser said, and many are Gateway alumni. “They are making this a very smooth transition.”

In addition to mapping out musicians’ movements during performances, McMasters-Parsons is a percussion arranger, joining Austin Schmidt. Other staff members are Dave Verno, woodwind coordinator; Nvayo Ndongwa, brass/visual staff; Jaemie Cotter and Deb Kostley, color guard directors; and Gina Goppman and Rebecca Elms, color guard staff.

Moser offered further compliments for the band’s student leaders: Hector Ramirez, president; Phoebe Ottenberg, vice president; Kai Jones, secretary-treasurer; Josie D’Andries and Riley McDonough, drum majors; Jayla Chase, woodwind captain; and Joel Ayi-Kumi, brass captain.

Their director is a brass man, himself, as Moser started playing trombone as a fourth-grader in Shaler Area School District and found his niche with the lower-register version of the instrument while earning his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

And while playing bass trombone in IUP’s marching band, he met fellow musician Megan Alderson, who turned out to be his future wife.

He taught for 10 years in Public Schools of Brookline, Mass., earning his master’s at nearby Boston University, and later recruited for the Ohio State University School of Music in Columbus before returning to the Pittsburgh area. Along with his role as band director, Moser teaches music at Gateway High School.

Along with everyone else involved with the band, Moser looks forward to the students continuing to show their skills. Gateway hosts a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Marching Band Association completion on Oct. 7, and the PIMBA championships are Oct. 28th at Moon Area High School.

The theme of Gateway’s show “Rise,” setting an optimistic tone that matches Moser’s outlook.

“We have great potential, and I think we’re going to have a good season,” he said. “We’re already off to a good start, and it just makes us excited for the future.”