Passing The Baton
This fall, a new director will take the helm of Avon School Corporation’s nationally recognized band program. Matt Abbey assumes leadership upon the retirement of longtime band leader and director Matt Harloff.
But Abbey isn’t new to the Marching Black & Gold and the numerous other music programs at the school. He’s been a member of Avon High School’s (AHS) band team for nearly nine years and has taken leadership roles as band director at Avon Middle School South and assistant band director at AHS since 2023.
In fact, Abbey and Harloff’s friendship goes even further back.
“I grew up in Northern California and marched in my high school band and then drum corps with the Carolina Crown after that,” Abbey says. “I met Matt Harloff there.”
Harloff has been the brass caption head for the Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corps since the early 2000s.
Back then, the Carolina Crown hosted their first show of the season in Indianapolis and their championships in Indy as well. Abbey says twice per year, he and the drum corps would stay at AHS, sleeping in the fieldhouse and giving him his first glimpse of Avon’s band program.
“I started to understand what Avon was. It was a storied program, way bigger than the campus we had in California,” Abbey says. “When my family relocated to Indianapolis, I went to Butler for music education and I posted on Facebook that I was coming here. Mr. Harloff reached out to me and says we should get you involved at Avon.”
In fact, his family rolled into Indianapolis in May 2018. The moving trucks were a day behind, and Abbey’s first stop was an Avon marching band rehearsal that evening.
“Wherever Matt went is where I ended up going. To have an opportunity to work with that guy has been incredible, and to work at Avon was a tremendous opportunity. Right out of the gate, working with the best band in the country kind of fell into my lap,” Abbey says.
In this new role, Abbey says there isn’t much Avon hasn’t done before. However, at the end of every season, the staff gets together to discuss how they can make the program even better for students’ experiences and staff.
“We don’t want to go through the motions or fall into complacency. I don’t see a lot of huge changes in the future. I know with the students and the team that has been built here, we’re going to be great, but we’ll continue looking at new areas and ways we can get involved,” Abbey says.
Abbey referenced a Walt Disney quote when he was talking about a feature film he had recently wrapped up. He says Disney wanted to “keep plussing with ideas.” He was constantly challenging his Imagineers to see what was possible and then take it a step further, or to “plus it.”
“How do we continue to upgrade? One of the things we’ve never done as an organization is attend the Midwest Clinic. It’s the largest music conference in the country, with professional-level groups and music educators, held in December each year. We’ve never applied, but if accepted it would be a huge honor,” Abbey says. “That’s just an example of something we could do as a major challenge. We want to continue to ‘plus’ our program.”
Abbey looks back at the encouragement he received at a young age and wants to pay it forward to current and future students.
“My family always supported me when I decided to join the band. A friend of mine was involved in drum corps and I went out to a show. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. The Blue Devils Drum Corps is the best in history and as we sat there watching, my mom says, ‘You know, you could do this if you wanted to.’ I told her I would never give up my entire summer to do marching band. Two years later, I joined and did six summers of drum corps and have been teaching since 2017,” Abbey says.
He says it’s about the lessons of hard work and learning to be great even when the environment isn’t.
“I made friends in the drum corps 10 years ago who were standing in my wedding last summer. I met my boss in drum corps. It’s those formative experiences years ago that have carried me through and set me up to operate the way I do now,” Abbey says. “Now, I have the opportunity to impact students in the same way.”
Abbey is grateful for the mentoring Harloff has provided as he begins transitioning the role to Abbey this summer, and he’s grateful for the staff and team he’s walking into as director.
“There is so much more to Avon than any one person or band director,” Abbey says. “One of our biggest difference-makers is our parents; we can’t operate without them. The students, staff and parents are what make Avon successful.”
