Edison band director retires after 25 years

For the past 25 years, Marc Sansone has been known to strike up the Edison High School Marching Band and showcase the young musicians’ talents at concerts and parades near and far. Now he is stepping down from the podium as he retires May 31.

The longtime band director, who has spent 33 years in education, led 125 band members in grades seven through 12 this year and took his final bow at the spring concert April 22. There he reunited and performed on trombone with students he once taught, spotlighting high school and jazz band musicians while a dozen alumni also took the stage to share their talents with the audience.

“My son had encouraged me to do that for the past couple years, and they came back. I had some travel from Conneaut, Bedford, Canton, Ravenna, Athens and Youngstown,” he said. “Everyone there was a former student. It was bittersweet because I got to share the stage with current students and past students, including those from 2003.”

Some of those former students have become band directors at high schools and universities, as well as audio engineers and college students. Some are now parents of his current students. Still, the music has remained with them.

“This can still be a part of your life,” Sansone said.

Music always has been part of his life. The Youngstown native said he was a quiet child who found his voice through song. His parents also were musically inclined, with his father owning a Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Pittsburgh.

“He knew Fred Astaire, and my mother played piano and was a dance teacher at my father’s studio,” Sansone said, adding his brothers also played in the school band.

“I enjoyed it, and going home and practicing was fun for me,” he said. “I was interested in performing and socializing, and my band director, Joe Purser, was an inspiration. The band was big in the ’80s, and he was a great director. I thought, ‘I wouldn’t mind doing this.’”

He graduated from Liberty High School in 1988 and headed to Youngstown State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from the Dana School of Music. It was there he met his wife, Beverly. They later married and had two sons, Andrew and Zachary.

Sansone relocated and began teaching at Harding Middle School, where he remained for eight years before joining Edison Local. After learning of an opening as a junior high band director, he headed to Richmond in 2001 and was named head band director four years later.

Beverly, who serves as a special education teacher at Edison, joined him as assistant band director. Together they have worked with thousands of students and parents through the years.

“The band has always been a space to express yourself,” Sansone said. “The band community has all variations of people and are some of the smartest people in the building because they are at college and trade skill levels. My goal was to make it similar to my experience in high school.”

During his quarter-century at EHS, he has led the band at an estimated 250 football games and more than 500 parades and performances. He also formed the popular Tearin’ Up the Turf band show, which highlights area high school, college and community bands. Sansone said he was inspired after attending another band show about 20 years ago and decided to host a local event.

“I realized the local community was missing out,” he said. “It’s about bringing people together, sharing and respecting music and supporting each other. It’s creating a world where you can put things behind you for a little while, and I made a lot of friends with other directors along the way.”

The last show also included a callback to an earlier event, with his grandson dressed as a mascot, something his son did years ago.

Additionally, he has traveled with the band to Chicago and other big cities. Most recently, he took more than 40 students to Washington, D.C., April 16-18 to perform at the Lincoln Memorial and tour the nation’s capital.

“I have taken groups there before,” he said, adding freshmen through seniors attended the latest trip. “It was not part of the country’s 250th anniversary, but when it was time to decide on a trip, it came to the top of the list.”

The band performed music from its marching season and halftime shows and entertained the audience from the steps of the historic monument.

“It was well-received, and people stopped, listened and filmed with their camera phones,” Sansone said.

Those are the moments he will remember fondly. Now he looks forward to spending more time with his family, which includes three grandchildren, traveling and relaxing while boating.

However, he hopes he has influenced students the way his director inspired him and would like to see the jazz ensemble he created 25 years ago continue, with music still thriving within the school’s halls, on the field and at venues.

“Jazz is truly American music, and the kids love it. We had a ‘bandemic’ edition during COVID and hosted a show with a limited audience while abiding by the safety rules. It was also posted on Facebook,” he said. “We were able to give the kids some normalcy in 2020.”

He also is grateful to Edison Local Schools, students, parents and the community for their support. He noted the band received new uniforms, trailer equipment and instruments purchased by the district.

“I hope that the kids are inspired to carry on with marching band, which is hard work, but you can bring people together with music. I want them to keep playing and supporting music, now and in the future, and to enrich people’s lives and keep marching on.”