Eight concerts. Five countries. Three weeks. Every year, students from Wayland High School take part in the American Music Abroad trip to perform in Europe. The program will take place this summer from Jun. 28 until Jul. 17.

The students from Wayland High School get together with about 100 other high school students from all over the United States to tour Europe. A band, an orchestra and a chorus are created and each group is accompanied by a full-time guide. The goal of “American Music Abroad” is for participants not only to perform in multiple performances but also to meet different people, get to know European culture and learn about history, including sites related to World War II and the Holocaust.

“To walk through [Normandy and Pointe du Hoc] and think I can’t believe these 18 year olds were scaling these cliffs – it’s amazing that [the D Day invasion] worked,” music teacher Susan Memoli said. “We go to Dachau and to walk through the camp, to have that kind of respect and reverence, and to put history into perspective, to walk it, to live it and to breathe it, makes it so much more meaningful,”

Earlier this year, interested students attended an informational meeting at Rivers School. Trip organizers announced that the group will visit Italy, Austria, Germany, France and Switzerland. The participants travel by bus through the countries, seeing monuments such as the Colosseum in Rome. The costs for AMA, which are similar to other traveling programs that include airfare, are over $5000. Students also have to plan in extra money for lunches during the tour. The organizers suggest bringing a credit card with $450 for the lunches and additional money to buy souvenirs.

Every student who is involved in music classes at WHS received an invitation from the program. Those who didn’t get invited must audition to take part. The program is on a first–come, first–served basis. Music teachers Memoli and Rachel Carroll asked students to hand in their applications before the due date to get into the AMA program.

Before the traveling starts, preparation takes place over three days at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. All the students coming from Massachusetts, Ohio, New York, Virginia, and more get together and learn the songs for the tour during intense rehearsals. The participants also talk about managing their money, how to stay safe and taking care of their passports. For most of the students, it’s the first time they have traveled so far from home.

“They said that Germany and Croatia are really fun, so I’m excited to go there. I want to learn about the culture. I’ve never left the US, so this will be my first time experiencing something different,” freshman Annabelle Cummings said.

Included in the first three days of preparation is a full recording session to develop souvenir CDs. At the end of the preparation period, participants play a farewell concert before they begin their journey to Europe.

“Now [is] more important than [past] years. I feel that as our political climate changes, the worldview of Americans may have changed,” Memoli said. “The good thing about going is to being able to discuss this with people in their native countries and find out how they perceive us. I feel that the more of a global perspective you have, the more you
understand.”

The company for the AMA trip has existed for over forty years. This will be Mr. Memoli’s 14th tour and Ms. Memoli’s sixth tour with students from WHS. Last year, Ms. Memoli was the orchestra conductor and invited students to go.

Junior Uma Paithankar, one of 16 WHS students who went last year, has many good memories from the EMA trip.

“It was nice to see how much the audience enjoyed what we were doing,” Paithankar said.”They did this thing where they all clapped at the same time, that was cool. Overall I really liked it and I think the money was worth it, even though at the time we didn’t really have the time to process what was going on because it was very fast, but it’s a great memory, and I’m still in touch with about five or six people I met.”