“The organization as a whole is like a family,” Ian said. “In itself, we are all one community. We ‘share the love’; that’s our motto: to share the love with each other. And when we perform, we share the love with the audience.”
Touring bands like the Surf seek out willing high schools, churches and other community facilities along their touring schedule to put them up as they hone their programs between competitions.
“The audition process is in November and December. We meet one weekend per month from November until May,” Jacobs said. “The kids move in on [each] Friday night to a high school in south Jersey, they live in the gym and we use the kitchen facilities to prepare their meals. Once we get into May, it is every weekend; and once we get into June, we start the traveling part of the season.”
Competitions run through the summer with a half dozen of nearly 50 teams competing at each event around the country as the teams attempt to qualify for a run at the championship in mid-August, which is in Indianapolis this year.
“The kids that are really into this,” Jacobs said. “About half of them … will pursue careers in music education or music performance, so those kids know they want to do this as part of their resume building… And the rest of them, some of them are engineers or pre-med [or] this is their hobby and they like the performing and travelling portion of it.”
Their unexpected appearance in town was a new experience enjoyed by many and perhaps will inspire more of Red Hook’s talented band students to consider joining the Surf in the future.
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