He did not do it for the money and he did not do it for the fame, but former Shaker High School Band Director Enzo Cimino did produce hundreds of CDs.
The story began in the classroom specifically, the band room where Mr. Cimino, for nearly 20 years, would instruct hundreds of students year after year on scales and songs, show tunes and classics and everything in between.
`He was a lot of fun, even though he expected a lot,` said Karen Empie, of Delmar, a former student of Cimino’s. `He made you work, but we had a great time doing it. He would definitely always encourage you to do your best.`
Another of Cimino’s former students, Bill Duel, of Latham, said, `I would say that nine out of 10 of the students would say that [band] was the highlight of their high school careers.`
Week after week, Cimino would push his students to practice and work at their talent until all their hard work and out-of-school hours culminated in a common demonstration for all musicians: the concert.
It was not enough that Cimino was at the concerts. He wanted to record them so that he and his students could listen to them later.
`We had a lot of live concerts that were recorded by parents,` said Cimino, `So now, I had all these old tapes, and they weren’t done professionally.`
Years after Cimino retired from teaching concert and stage band, he wanted to do something for his students, a way to give back to them for being so responsive and cooperative, and producing quality music over the years.
So, he decided to make a digitally remastered CD of a collection of songs ` 14 concert band and 13 stage band ` performed by his students, when he was directing them.
`I’ve made a couple hundred, but I’ve given out about 65 already,` he said.
Cimino said he decided to make the CDs after several requests from former students for recordings of their music.
`I’ve been in contact with so many kids, and the kids have asked me were there any old tapes,` said Cimino, `I said there were but to make a CD is such a monumental task, but I didn’t want to disappoint them so I decided, ‘Gee, that would be a great idea.’`
While Cimino had kept in contact with many of his former students, finding the others was not as simple as he had thought it would be.
`I thought I could just walk into the high school’s main office and just look at the records and get a list of my former students’ phone numbers,` said Cimino. `But I guess it’s just not meant to be.`
The school doesn’t keep the current addresses of former students.
Cimino said he has successfully been able to link up with a couple of people, but that the number of individuals is `not as much` as he had hoped for.
When asked if he would consider using a social networking Web site on the Internet to find more of his classmates, Cimino said he does not trust that the people who say they are his former students actually are who they say.
`You don’t even know who’s responding [to your messages],` said Cimino. `That’s the problem with that.`
Another problem Cimino has run into are students who have moved far away from Shaker High School.
`A lot of kids have moved out of state too and it’s just so hard to get in touch with them,` he said.
So instead of turning to the Internet or other electronic resources, Cimino is pooling the resources he already has, students who have received the CDs, to reach out to everyone who was in either the stage or concert band and had Mr. Cimino as their instructor throughout the 1960s and ’70s.
`Everybody that finds out about it ` go to your network and tell your friends,` said Duel, who added that listening to the CD brought back fond memories.
Cimino said that the free CDs are available on a first-come, first-served basis and that supplies are limited.
If you are a former student of Mr. Cimino’s and would like to receive a CD, e-mail him at [email protected].“