Atlantic Pops holiday concert to benefit rescue mission

Nov, 30-2009 9:10 pm

By JACKIE HANUSEY
Staff Writer

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – A toy is the price of admission to the Atlantic Pops Community Band Toy Drive Concert 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 at the Egg Harbor Township Community Center, 5045 English Creek Ave.

Items collected at the Pops’ 12th annual toy drive concert will be donated to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission. The gifts should be wrapped and labeled for a boy or girl and list the appropriate age range.

The band brings together musicians, local music teachers and others who just want to continue to play music. It is directed by Mark Kadetsky, a music teacher and band director at Egg Harbor Township High School.

The Atlantic City Rescue Mission helps people who are homeless. Kadetsky said the toys will be given to people at the mission so they have holiday gifts for the children in their family.

The gift of charity lasts throughout the year for the band, which holds a spring concert to raise money for scholarships. This year, members also helped gather funds for the HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers.

In the spring, music teachers invite some of their top students to play in a side-by-side concert that can include 35 to 60 student musicians.

“It expands their repertoire,” said Kadetsky. “Like anything, the more you do something, the better you get at it.

He said the nonprofit group started in 1996 when former Mainland Regional High School band director Mike Skwarlo retired from his school job.

The band allows those who played instruments throughout school to continue to enjoy making music, he said.

Kelly Cooney of Mays Landing has been a part of the group for more than 11 years.

“I love to play,” she said. “I had played in high school and college. Then I graduated college, and there were not a lot of groups to join to continue to play.”

She said she is happy to have found the group because it gives her the chance to continue to play clarinet.

Music is a big part of Cooney’s life, as she helps set up concerts and other entertainment events in Atlantic City.

She said playing with the Atlantic Pops doesn’t demand a lot of time, and the schedule is flexible. The group meets every other Tuesday for three months leading up to the winter and spring concerts.

The group can help music teachers become better, Kadetsky said.

“A lot of the music teachers play their second instrument,” he pointed out.

For example, Alder Avenue Middle School band director Michelle Marano’s first instrument is flute. But Kadetsky said that in this concert she will play the tenor saxophone to better hone her skills on the instrument.

There will be 50 musicians playing; about a dozen are advanced high school students.

“You’ll hear traditional songs and a lot of holiday songs,” said the director.

There will be a performance of “O Holy Night,” “The Night Before Christmas” read by emcee and vocalist Toni Ann Gisondi Pugliese, and “Jingle Bells Forever,” a mix of “Stars and Stripes” and “Jingle Bells.”

The concert is about 90 minutes long.

For information about the concert or joining the group see www.atlanticpops.org.



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