NEWPORT BEACH : Program’s Survival Is Sweet Music

When longtime music instructor Harry Corea died suddenly at the start of this school year, many at Corona del Mar High School worried about what would become of the school’s renowned orchestra and music program.

Corea, a friend and mentor to students for decades, created an award-winning department and built a reputation that stretched beyond the boundaries of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

His sudden passing led to a harrowing year for the program, with countless substitute teachers attempting to carry on his legacy, and much concern over whether it would remain as popular and successful as it was under Corea’s tutelage. Now, with the end-of-the-year concert just a few weeks away, almost everyone connected with the program is confident that the show will successfully go on--if it survives the cuts expected to be made to close a widening budget gap.

Parents say the program’s success this year was generated both by students who fought for their program and by energetic instructor Margaret Mell, who deftly filled Corea’s shoes. Mell, in turn, placed the credit with a supportive administration that spared the program from budget cuts, parents who still pay for most of the program’s needs, and students who wanted to learn.

“We all pulled together,” said Alyson Kaump, an eighth-grade violinist at the school, where both junior high and high school students play in the orchestra, the marching band or jazz band.

That task, parents and teachers said, was made more difficult by the devastating effect of Corea’s death last fall. A few students found him early one morning, slumped over his office desk. For many students, it was their first encounter with death, and it cast a heavy pall over the fall concert season and an upcoming year of music lessons.

The students, Mell said, “have really been going through the grieving process this year. . . . I think they really miss Mr. Corea.”

“I’ve been here since seventh grade, playing for him. He kind of kept me coming back,” said trumpet player Chuck Ferrera, 17. But Mell, he said, has proven a worthy replacement.

“All I can say is, thank God we have Ms. Mell,” he said.

The tumultuous months following Corea’s death were made even more troubled as many substitutes tried for the job before Mell, a native of the area and an old friend of Corea, returned to Newport Beach to apply for the job.

Once hired, she immediately turned to the parents, who began doing everything from helping students repaint the green band room walls to raising thousands of dollars to hire assistants, repair old instruments and rent needed pieces.

“The parents have been incredibly helpful. They’ve been super,” said Mell, noting that the music boosters have raised more than $5,000 this semester.

The boosters, however, say the impetus for success lies more with Mell than with parents. Mell has “really pulled a lot of things together,” said booster president Cheryl Buck.

While the music program looks hopeful again, Mell was only hired for this semester, and the district will decide the fate of her job--and, in effect, the entire music program--when it makes its final decisions on the district’s budget, which is saddled with a projected $3.7-million shortfall.

Even if the program doesn’t survive, Mell said, the experience has been heartwarming.

“The thing that impressed me was the kids’ hearts. Their hearts were in a really good place. They worked really hard, “ she said.