On one recent day at Pennsbury High School, Frank Mazzeo was trying to coax the school’s jazz band to be better. Much better.

The group, the Pennsbury Concert Jazz Band, had just reassembled from sectionals, in which students who play different instruments break off in order to work on instrument specific music. Band members were talking amongst themselves, with some students playing flourishes of what sounded to untrained ears like potential solos.

All noise stopped as Mazzeo, a burly man of average height, briskly descended the stairs into the band’s practice area.

Mazzeo’s seriousness showed as he moved through the expansive room, weaving through chairs, music stands, and other miscellaneous performance apparatus.

The students could tell by the way Mazzeo’s brow was furrowed that this practice was not going to be an easy day for anyone.

As the band started playing, Mazzeo cut them off immediately, obviously annoyed, or confused, about what someone had just played. Mazzeo asked who made a mistake, who missed a note or articulation.

The day seemed about to get worse when no one came forward as the culprit. But then, something incredible happened; the band suddenly clicked, and the music climbed hills and valleys in the way that a professional group would.

After the band came together, so to did the attitude of the players. Mazzeo’s energy lifted, and the musicians fed off it. The music and attitudes of everyone involved picked up, and with it, the quality of the practice.

This was near the end of a typically hectic day for Mazzeo, the director of bands for the Pennsbury School District. His days most often begin at the high school around 7:30 a.m. Throughout any given day, Mazzeo may visit upwards of five different schools. During the school year, his days may run until 8 or 9 p.m. Not during the school year, Mazzeo performs in the house band at the Walnut Street Theatre, and therefore works much later, until 11p.m. or so.

According to Mazzeo, 2,400 students began music education in the Pennsbury School District in September 2013.

Mazzeo, known fondly as “Mazz” by many of his students, makes a point of being influential and inspirational, yet stern when necessary, to the students he teaches. Mazzeo is known for many things in the band program, including setting up international trips and building his students into model citizens.

Mazzeo’s career path is not a surprise, given his upbringing. “Music was always around; my father listened to big band, my mother listened to jazz and classical. I didn’t start until I was a freshman in high school,” explained Mazzeo.

Mazzeo grew up in Northfield, New Jersey, right outside of Atlantic City.

He ended up joining the school band, at first, to spend time with friends. From here, Mazzeo’s love of music grew at a seemingly exponential pace.

The way Mazzeo describes it, he never intended on teaching as he made his way through high school and college.  Mazzeo received his bachelor’s of science music education from West Chester University and a master’s in music performance from Temple University. Mazzeo saw music, through college, as a way to make some extra cash. “[I would] make money playing music in college. I was out on the road with Tina Turner at one point.” Mazzeo plays a number of instruments from the woodwind family, including saxophone, clarinet and flute.

“[I] never wanted to teach music at first,” explained Mazzeo, but that changed when Mazzeo took a job performing at Cherry Hill High School West. After the show, Mazzeo was approached about being the school’s assistant marching band director.

Mazzeo agreed and spent the year in that job until he found himself taking control of the band one day during band camp when the director was forced to leave practice due to a family emergency. This experience gave Mazzeo his first taste of conducting formal education.

Mazzeo’s education career continued when he applied for the jazz band director of Pennsbury High School. Mazzeo admits that he did not think he would get the position because there were more than 7,100 applicants. Mazzeo got the job, however; “I was going to do it for one year, one year turned into five,” explained Mazzeo. Mazzeo began teaching in Pennsbury in 1986.

To this day, and Mazzeo continues teaching music at all levels in the Pennsbury School district, from students barely starting out, to students making all-eastern bands. Whatever the level, Mazzeo continues to teach his students things they didn’t know they didn’t know.

Mazzeo’s skill becomes apparent when he is on stage performing, be it with the Walnut Street Theatre pit orchestra, or the Pennsbury Alumni Saxophone Quartet.

One recent show took place at a benefits concert at the high school hosted by the band program. The performers took the stage; the light dimmed and only the stage was illuminated.

Mazzeo walked out from behind the stage with the rest of his quartet, and they calmly took their seats and began to play. This time, the song was “Yuppieville Rodeo,” composed by Mike Mower. Mazzeo’s expertise is evident from the moment he readied his posture and set his music up for the performance. Sound suddenly burst to life as the quartet followed his lead.

Mazzeo’s love for music as a whole quickly makes itself evident as his soul and heart were audible in every note. His soprano saxophone sang high and low, seemingly effortlessly.

He radiated concentration and soul as he stared down the music. The effort to make the music sound good was evident. After a few minutes of song, it came time for Mazzeo’s solo.

He stood and faced the audience, as his fingers moved at lightning speed over the keys. At the change in position, the saxophone changed voice, going from high mountains to deep valleys in a few  seconds.

After the songs, the whole quartet stood and gave a short, humble nod towards the audience, then headed backstage, done for the evening.

Mazzeo said there are many perks to being in touch with so many students and having a hand in their development as musicians.

“When you see how it affects people’s lives in a positive way […] where they find out things about themselves,” explained Mazzeo, when asked about what makes his job so worth it. Mazzeo continued, “I consider it a true blessing from God to get to watch that happen.”

One student affected by Mazzeo is Mark Sullivan, a Pennsbury alumni and now a student at Temple University. “You really always felt like what he had to say had meaning. It was almost intimidating, simply because of the experience the man had under his belt. It wasn’t just textbook, and it showed,” explained Sullivan, 20.

Charlie Knodel, 20, also a student at Temple, was a very involved member of the musical program at Pennsbury. “During my time in Pennsbury’s band program, Mr. Mazzeo always pushed students to their highest potential as musicians. Although I did not work much with him in 1 on 1 rehearsals, I greatly admired his leadership as a director, and applied some his skills the my own leadership responsibilities in the band. I, for one, will always be grateful for all of the knowledge I gained from Mr. Mazzeo over the years and I know many of my classmates would say the same.”

Mazzeo greatly enjoys his position as the director of bands in Pennsbury, and noted that the easiest part of his job is “to get excited and have enthusiasm for what we do.”

On the flip side, Mazzeo also commented on the hardest part of the job, “[…] the same thing, because we have created this huge program, and it can be hard to find the time for everything that needs to be done.”

When it comes down to it though, Mazzeo ended the interview with what the band program and job means to him. “The job means to experience the good things in life with a lot of great people through music.”