Longtime Franklin Regional band director to retire this year

When Kevin Pollock was hired as the Franklin Regional high school band director, he found himself in a brand-new position with a week before summer band camp rehearsals began.

“With so little time to plan and prepare, we fell back on a patriotic show theme I’d used at two previous schools before coming to FR,” said Pollock, who will retire at the end of this school year.

It will be the end of a music education career spanning nearly four decades, which has encompassed countless accolades for his students along with opportunities to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, a presidential inauguration parade, the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena and elsewhere.

Pollock, 61, of Murrysville spoke with the Tribune-Review recently to take a look back at his time at Franklin Regional.

Question: What is one major way music education has changed over the course of your time at FR?

Answer: The obvious answer is the inclusion of technology as a tool in the process, although the concepts and skills students need to know and demonstrate as instrumental performers haven’t changed at all.

Q: Over the years, the band has participated in a lot of high-profile events. Is there any one event that really stands out for you, and if so, why?

A: Each of those high-profile parade experiences is like another child — unique and special in its own way and impossible to call my favorite. The students’ record of achievement — three Macy’s parades, two Rose Bowl parades, a presidential inaugural parade, a Pennsylvania governor’s inaugural parade, the Kentucky Derby Festival Parade, the National Cherry Blossom Festival parade, and many parades in Disney World — speaks for itself. Over the years, that adds up to countless lifetime memories for the students, parents and staff.

Q: What is the biggest challenge in gathering a group of student musicians who can perform at the same level of consistency and quality that FR has maintained for so long?

A: There’s an incredible amount of planning, preparation, organization, and hard work on the part of staff, parents and students in every successful high school band. Coordinating all of that can be challenging and time-consuming, but it pays off for the students.

Q: What’s the craziest band trip story you’re able to tell?

A: There are so many crazy stories, but in order to protect the names of the innocent, I’d rather mention the most recent memorable one.

After the Thanksgiving dinner we shared together in New York following the last Macy’s parade, the student leaders took it upon themselves to take the microphone and share with everyone their favorite band memories. It was spontaneous and genuine. There were laughs and tears, and no one could have scripted a better finish to our trip.

It’s all the more memorable now in light of the way this school year is ending. That evening will probably be the last time we had everyone together in one place to share our thanks and appreciation for one another. I’ll never forget it.

Students will not forget Pollock, either, and submitted some of their memories and well-wishes to the Tribune-Review.

Q: What have you enjoyed most about your time at FR?

A: I’ve enjoyed the creativity, the opportunities to join forces with lots of talented students and adults to create exciting and memorable musical performances, whether those were in parades, on the field or on the concert stage.

Q: What will you miss the most?

A: I’ll miss those special moments with students — those times when students performed, experienced or accomplished something they never thought possible, and then first realized the significance. Often that was just after completing the exhausting five-and-a-half-mile Rose Bowl parade, or while still on the adrenaline rush of performing in front of the Macy’s store on national television, or as we walked to the buses minutes after marching past the presidential reviewing stand.

But sometimes it was after a concert or even a playing exam. Those situations are priceless. And being part of those experiences is probably what I will miss most.

Below, see more videos from Panther band students: