Irondequoit’s Own ‘Music Man’ and the Band that Keeps Playing On

Former Irondequoit town supervisor David Schantz has been a big part of the Irondequoit Concert Band’s first 50 years

By Linda Quinlan

 

From music man to town supervisor and back again. You might say that’s David Schantz of Irondequoit in a nutshell.

What is today known as the roughly 65-member Irondequoit Concert Band was started in spring 1974, with help getting organized by the late local attorney and judge Franklin D’Aurizio. The Eastridge Kiwanis club sponsored the band and later built a gazebo on the Irondequoit Town Hall grounds so it would have a place to play.

Schantz, who had started as a music teacher in the West Irondequoit School District in 1963, played in the band’s first rehearsal, in the trumpet section. The band’s first conductor was another West Irondequoit music teacher, Al Piato. Schantz took over a year later.

Schantz continued teaching school and leading the band until he was elected Irondequoit Town Supervisor in 1995. He led the town from Jan. 1, 1996 to 2004. Good friend Russ Thomas, who started teaching music in the East Irondequoit School District the same year as Schantz across town, led the band during the years Schantz was supervisor.

Both were heavily involved in the community, but Thomas always had a vision to create an Irondequoit Community Orchestra as well, Schantz recalled. He went back to the trumpet section of the band for a time after his stint as Irondequoit supervisor, then Thomas decided to focus on the orchestra idea and Schantz took over as conductor again. He has led the band since then.

“It was just a seamless transition; it worked out perfectly for everybody,” Schantz, now 83, said.

This year wrapped up the Irondequoit Concert Band’s 50th anniversary.

Rich DeRose said the band has always been almost like its own family. He’s been a member of the band for 41 of its 50 years and has served on its board of directors for 39 years. He started out on clarinet, but transitioned to percussion about 15 years ago.

Schantz said his goal has always been to create an environment where the musicians can achieve the most.

Music has always been a big part of his life. “I’ll never forget my start at [East Irondequoit’s] Durand-Eastman School,” Schantz said. “They had a wonderful music program. I chose the trumpet in third grade and the wonderful teachers there had a positive effect on my life.”

When Schantz was in sixth grade, his mother started taking him to the Eastman School of Music to study trumpet every Wednesday. He never thought about being a musician or teacher. However, an uncle in Michigan and other family members encouraged him to follow that path.

After high school, where he was just a year behind favorite Rochester jazz great Chuck Mangione, who became a friend, Schantz entered the University of Rochester, but soon realized the Eastman School of Music was where he really wanted to be. He also learned he knew how to teach and work with kids.

Schantz taught music in every school in West Irondequoit at one time or another and at one time had 150 students involved in the music program.

Recalling that he drove an Alfa Romeo or MGB sports car in those early years, he said he realized he had to be a kind of salesman as he built the district’s music program. In addition, he had about 20 private students, after school, to add to his income.

He had already retired from his teaching career before becoming supervisor.

“I had always been involved in the community,” Schantz recalled. “I was on the school board in East Irondequoit and with (the late) Paul Failing, started the Coalition of Irondequoit Neighborhoods and the Irondequoit Land Use Coalition.”

“I was always interested in politics and community affairs,” Schantz added. “But I never thought of running for supervisor until I was encouraged by Stephanie Aldersley.”

Aldersley was a well-known local Democrat and former county legislator and town board member.

A former town leader of the Conservative party in Irondequoit, Schantz actually ended up running for supervisor, but as a Republican.

“It just worked out,” Schantz recalled. “I didn’t realize that everything I’d done in my life had prepared me for this (supervisor) … I found out as things developed that I knew how to do it.”

He does recall a high school social studies teacher who “beat into us that each person had a responsibility to serve their community and people, to pay back the country for all of the opportunities it gives people to succeed.”

DeRose has a similar history. A Navy veteran, he devoted his time to youth baseball in the community for 12 years before attending a joint concert of the Eastridge (high school) wind ensemble and the Irondequoit Concert Band in 1983. That’s when he joined what was then the Irondequoit Community Concert Band, then the Lakeside Concert Band, now the Irondequoit Concert Band.

The band is made up of a diverse group of people with many different jobs, interests and ages, DeRose said, “but our common theme is that we all love music and love to play.”

He still plays softball with the Irondequoit Recreation league. But music is a big part of his life.

“And being in the band has given me more than I’ve put in,” DeRose said.

While the Irondequoit Concert Band performs regularly in Irondequoit, most notably a holiday concert and on the Fourth of July, it has also traveled, locally from Victor to Pultneyville and Sodus and beyond to Boston and Washington, D.C.

The band usually takes August off, but otherwise plays year-round. They rehearse every Tuesday night at West Irondequoit’s Dake Junior High School.

The band’s board meets once a month and while the conductor has the last say on music they will play, a committee of the board helps Schantz make music selections.

“I try to choose music that will challenge the band and that they will enjoy playing,” Schantz said. “But you have to consider the audience too. I try to pick a varied program that will appeal to a wide range of people and ages, too. I try to balance the standard literature as well as incorporating newer, contemporary things.”

For the last 10 years, the band has also been under the auspices of the West Irondequoit School District’s Continuing Education program, which means they are part of the program’s advertising materials and have a cooperative agreement for facilities use. Band members pay a small fee to be involved in a band “course.”

Schantz continues to especially love the music of the big band era and show tunes, and admits to having a big collection of classic jazz and big band music on vinyl. He also enjoys marches and everything from Chicago to the Beatles, classical and music from Broadway shows.

Over the years, the band has had members playing into their mid-90s, but he’d guess their current range is 14 to mid-80s.

Yes, he thinks music has had a hand in keeping him young.

“Research being done finds that there’s a very complex use of the brain involved in performing and conducting,” Schantz said. “Plus, being involved in music can be very helpful mentally. All-around, music is extremely positive for keeping fit.”

Ultimately, a big part of planning for the band continues to be how to make the group appealing for people of all ages, Schantz said.

“Whether you’re a listener or a performer, you get something from music that you can’t get anyplace else,” he added.

“It gets beyond the notes on the page,” DeRose agreed.