The Richmond High School Marching Band, the Orchestra, and Andrew Wilke, band instructor, were honored to have been
requested to play at the opening of the Richmond Ferry Building in January of this year.
JUNE 2019 MARKETPLACECONTRACOSTA.COM 63
resources to learn about doing music
at a Title 1 school,” he said. The lack
of available resources did not stop or
even slow Wilke down. “So, my first
year here there were only eight kids
in the program and we still went and
did the Cinco de Mayo parade, it was
cool!”
By the end of his first year as
the full-time band instructor, his
class grew to about 25 students and
has continued to grow each year
thereafter, and currently stands at
close to 170 students participating
in the five bands classes. “I have
two beginning band classes, a
string orchestra that we started this
year—Hercules is the only other
school in the district to have one—a
symphonic band, which is the top
band, and then a jazz band,” Wilke
described.
To have taken a once failing afterschool
band program to becoming
one of the top high school bands
in the region, took persistent and
dedicated pushing from Wilke on
the district and school. Even with
his constant advocating, Wilke will
be the first to admit that if it weren’t
for the school administration and
the students the program would
not have made it this far. “As a
teacher, especially a music teacher,
if you don’t have the admin support
you’re really not going to be able
to do anything and they have really
supported me through all of our
crazy growth,” he said.
Now that the program is getting
really good, Wilke said, his long-term
goal is to focus on the sustainability
of the program. “Since there have
been many programs come and go
my goal is to make the program
strong so whenever the day comes
that I’ll have to leave here—hopefully
that is a really long time from now—
the program is strong enough that
someone else could step in and keep
it going,” he described. “Keeping
something going is a lot harder that
starting something.”
In addition to having a parent
booster group for the first time
since he started, which Wilke said is
monumental because parent support
helps ensure a program will continue,
making the band program financially
independent is a key element in
the sustainability of it. “We are
fundraising constantly and accepting
donation so we can do more trips,”
he said. “The reality is that this school
is in an impoverished community and
as the program grows it gets more
expensive and the school district has
many important programs to spend
money on, so I want this program to
be financially independent and stable
so we don’t have to beg for money
from the school.”
For Wilke, music is essential in
schools. “Music programs in school is
important, but especially for schools
like ours because our kids here deal
with a lot of real life stuff, more than
most adults,” he said. “Music is a
language, an emotional language that
can serve as an outlet and a safe space
where I can reach students where
other teachers are not.”
Having been a musician since he
was in fourth grade, music was just
as essential for Wilke when he was
a child. “Music was pretty much the
only thing I was interested in and if
I wouldn’t have done it I don’t know
what I would have done; I would
have had a much different path.”
While his job is quite stressful, he
continues because he gets to play
music every day and gains so much
inspiration from his students. “My
seniors this year started with me
when they were freshman, I started all
of them on their instruments, so it is
cool but also pretty emotional having
them getting ready to graduate,” he
shared. “It really is an honor to step
into a kid’s life and contribute and
hopefully help them.”