Prestigious Honor Awarded Salem Music Teacher, Alumnus

SALEM, MA — A Salem Public Schools music teacher and Salem High alumnus has earned a prestigious fellowship designed to promote and expand access to the culture of marching band, color guard, and drum corps design.

Jabari Tovar, who graduated from Salem High in 2012, accepted the Bluecoats Fellowship, an honors program for educators specializing in the marching arts.

Tovar specializes in percussion and assists with the SHS Marching Band and Color Guard. He was one of six music educators nationwide to be selected for the Bluecoats program based in Canton, Ohio.

"It is the top of the line of the activity," Tovar said. "Over the last decade, the Bluecoats have pushed the art into what the marching arts can look like. The opportunity to work with these people is going to be an opportunity of a lifetime.

"To be recognized on a national level is very humbling and overwhelming."

The Bluecoats Fellowship received a record 83 applications this year.

Bluecoats Fellows receive a paid residency at Bluecoats Spring Training as well as a mentorship with a member of its design team. Educators have the opportunity to grow their skills and receive guidance in their work in the marching arts to bring back to their respective schools.

Tovar will spend all of June in Canton, then fly to Indianapolis in August to attend the Drum Corps International World Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium.

"I am excited to go and learn and make these connections, but I'm more excited to bring it back to Salem and make it our own," Tovar said. "I'll be showing our music planned for the marching band. My goal is to take it to the next level. I don't want to be like other schools.

"I want to continue to carve out our identity and do what’s best for Salem kids."

A 2016 graduate of Salem State University, he was one of four SSU alumni to receive the Northeast Regional Educators Hall of Fame Rising Star Award in December of 2023. In February 2023, Tovar was named among Yamaha Music’s 40 Under 40.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)