Magic Carpet

Packing Smart for the Big Trip

The Kittatinny High School marching band proves its roadworthiness.

by Mac Randall

Four years ago, Jarred Matthes became the band director at Kittatinny Regional High School in Newton, New Jersey. The program he inherited was small, and Matthes' goal was to expand it quickly. His students responded with tremendous enthusiasm. "We were able to go from a nine-person pep band to a 60-person marching band in two years," he reports with pride.

As the marching band's first year together neared its end, Matthes began thinking about how to reward its members for their efforts. "I wanted to do something they'd remember forever," he says. "And I kept going back to one of my own favorite musical memories: when I was a high school senior and we took a trip to Disney World, and I got to lead the band down Main Street as a drum major."

In April 2007, Matthes gave himself and his students another lofty goal. "I told them, 'Let's try to do the Main Street parade in our second year as a marching band.' And there was no doubt—they wanted it."

And so the process began. In the fall, Matthes made an audition tape of the band and got official approval for a May 2008 trip to Disney, which was followed by fundraising, arranging travel, and countless hours of rehearsals. But as the date of the trip neared, another important consideration came into play: how to efficiently and safely transport the luggage and instruments of more than 80 people.

"We were originally going to have one of the parents drive down to Florida a day or two before us," Matthes recalls. "Fortunately for him, we decided mid-year that we'd ship all the gear by plane." But one parent's good fortune turned into a lot more work for everyone else. "The week before the trip, our band rooms became luggage central. We spent every free moment packing or tagging boxes or measuring and weighing every instrument for the airlines."

Some musicians got off easy—the trumpeters were able to bring their instruments onboard as carry-on—but special fl ight cases had to be bought for several percussion instruments. Among the most fragile items being transported were the band's array of drum harnesses, which required the packers to place extra layers of bubble wrap in their boxes. Happily, the harnesses all arrived in one piece, as did every other piece of luggage. Says Matthes, "We like to say that the spirit of Walt was looking out for us."