By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

RESERVE – This school year has been a challenging one for Riverside Academy. After settling in with new Principal Perry DiCarlo, the school was shaken by the deaths of three of its students.

Perhaps no other club at the school has been more attuned to these struggles than the Riverside band. The budding musicians first had to deal with the departure of their band leader in October. Then, in February trumpet player Justin Monsour was accidentally killed in a gun accident.

Darryl Clement, who took the reins as band director, said, “They’ve been through a lot. Changing band directors is really hard. In addition, having one of their band members pass away, I’ve never been through anything like that.”

The band members got a chance to put some of their struggles behind them recently when they staged a concert, appropriately titled “Triumphs,” at St. John Theatre in Reserve.

As might be expected of a school band “recital,” band members of all ages played a variety of songs reflecting their expertise and the theme of the show.

But more than that, the show offered both the Riverside community and the band a chance to heal.

“This was their time to feel what we have been feeling,” said Clement.

One of the most poignant moments in the evening came when band members wheeled out a special shadowbox containing Monsour’s trumpet and some of his band memorabilia and presented it to the boy’s parents.

“Tonight is much more than a concert,” said 2011-12 band booster Van Bordelon.

With the shadowbox on stage, the band played a song while a video montage of their three lost classmates played above their heads.

It was an idea that had its inception in a small memorial that sprung up following Monsour’s death.

“His chair became a little tribute to him,” said Clement. “Every day you were faced with it.”

Although the “triumph” of the title most readily referred to a triumph of the spirit, the band had other victories to celebrate. On its trip to Disney World for the annual band competition, the marching band earned high marks from the judges and took home the “Golden Mickey,” signifying they were the highest rated marching band of the competition.