Plymouth Band Celebrates Area’s German Heritage

 

A Plymouth High School band is embracing the German heritage that surrounds the city through more than just the style of music that they play.

“We like to think of ourselves as the only authentic high school German band in the country, and there is some validity to that,” Director of Bands at Plymouth High School Jason Sebranek said.

The German band was created in 1976 and dresses in full traditional German attire, including lederhosen. Just under 50 percent of the population that lives in Plymouth has German ancestors.

“Where we come from there are a lot of German people,” said band member Kelly Pocian. “There’s a lot of German heritage and German culture surrounding us. So, it was just kind of, oh yeah let’s put together a German band. It’s been going on a long time now.”

This German band from Plymouth recently came to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to compete in the Wisconsin School Music Association’s State Solo & Ensemble festival, which is held yearly at multiple venues throughout Wisconsin. The festival draws over 32,000 students in over 11,000 events over the course of two weekends every year.

The 32,000 students that are able to perform at the State Solo & Ensemble festival come from a greater pool of over 220,000 students that have performed in events across the state. An even smaller pool of 433 soloists are recognized with the Exemplary Soloist Award, three students from Plymouth High School were recognized with the award at the event in Milwaukee: Carter Krzyzaniak, Emily Carbaugh and Zach Holden, who was recognized for his work in the Music Thearer Male Solo category and Tenor Solo.

“We’re the only one in the nation, actually, that plays German music with actual outfits at the high school level,” said band member Matthew Matz.

Sebranek said that around 90 students try out for the extra-curricular group, with the band carrying around 44 students. He said that this band is similar to town bands that a person would see in Germany. He said that the music in Germany cut across generational gaps, which can also be seen in this Plymouth band.

“We’re to the point now, since it’s been around since the 70s that we have children of some of the founding members of the group,” said Sebranek. “I have yet to figure out how you get the current American teenager to wear lederhosen, but they do.”

Through tradition and a sense of pride, this German band has figured out the key to have students become active in the traditions of their ancestors. Band members will quickly state why they are happy to join the group when they are asked.

“It kind of gives me something to do,” said Matz.”I mean, it’s always a challenge to try to be my best at it. So, it’s just a fun thing to do in my free time.”

“German band is probably one of the most fun things I’ve done, because we go to state festivals, and we went to German Fest and we have Oktoberfest in Plymouth,” said Pocian.

Pocian’s passion for music started with a struggle at a young age.

“My mom kind of dragged me to this audition in like third grade for ‘The King and I,’ and I just had a lot of fun there and I just started doing a lot of music,” Pocian said of how she first got into music. “When I was really little I just sang constantly. You could not shut me up.”

Many of the students at the festival compete in a variety of events. Pocian, for example, performed in six different events. The WSMA State Solo & Ensemble Festival is one of the largest events of its kind held in the nation.