Throw Back Thursday

BYODT or How Much Tape Does It Take to Stick a Director to the Wall?

Leave a Comment / Assistant Directing, Fundraising, High Schools, Music Department, Personal experience, Social Media, Teaching, Throw Back Thursday /

There was a fun “Prize Program” that went with our Candle Sale for the band. Yes, it was one of MY (Priority Fund Raising) sales. Here was the prize description at the bottom of the letter (highlight added).

AT THE ICE CREAM PARTY

CA$H BA$H

Tape the Directors to the Wall (BYODT)

Ice Cream – All You Can Eat

Variety of Door Prizes

Pig Races (Names drawn)

FUN…FUN…FUN

 ICE CREAM PARTY for ALL who sell $100+

The Ice Cream Party was for all who sold over $100. There were about 50 people who qualified. The challenge was to eat all the ice cream, with the guarantee that if all the ice cream was gone, we would reschedule and do it again. NOTE: They didn’t eat all the ice cream. 

BUT there would be other fun that only those at the party would experience.

  • CA$H BA$H was a cash give away. Students would draw tickets for amounts of cash ranging from $1 to $50. 
  • DOOR PRIZES were random prize items I brought from my warehouse.
  • PIG RACES will need to be another story, but they were battery operated pigs that wriggled and grunted, or walked forward. There was zero control. Names were drawn for participants. Winners got cash or door prizes.
  • BYODT (Bring Your Own Duck Tape) was to be a highlight. Here’s how that went down…….

The students placed two chairs against the back wall in the band room; for Mr. Campbell and myself. And then, they had plenty of time to tape us to the wall with what they brought for the occasion

Obviously, I would require more tape. 

When they finished, they gently removed Mr. Campbell’s chair from under him. He slowly slid down to the floor. So they all went about adding more tape to me.

Then….

…instead of gradually pulling out the chair, it was kicked out from under me, the way you might do if you were hanging someone…. 

It was such a violent (relatively speaking) maneuver that it pulled me away from the wall and I went crashing to the floor. I landed hard and, yes, it hurt……but the kids were laughing so hard I covered it up and laughed along with them. 

And yes, they did help remove the tape from me and the wall. 

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Two stories about small schools with larger bands

High Schools, Marching Band, Personal experience, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music, Throw Back Thursday /

Joan suggested I respond to a post with a similar story… (shortened for this post). MY experience follows.

From David Bloss, Level 3 contributor in “Band” group.

“My small town HS in northern Oklahoma had a combined middle & high school band. I estimate the student population was around 300. We had 84 in the band (drum major and 2 twirlers for marching … ”

MY EXPERIENCE

Four days before graduation from the University of Kentucky, I was hired for my first teaching job. I went from a community of nearly 100K (Covington, KY) and an inner-city jr/sr high school (Holmes) of 2000+ — to a community of about 1000 (Pekin, IN) and a jr/sr high school (Eastern) population of under 400….. and no football team.

I somehow survived the culture shock and am grateful to have learned so much from that community. When I got stuck in the snow, no one drove past without getting out to help. When I drove a bandster home from rehearsal, I was expected to accept eggs from their chicken house. But, I also learned those teens were hard-working, talented, committed, and thrived at an opportunity to prove themselves to other communities….to me…..and to themselves.

I was befriended and mentored by an amazing artist (Richard Trueblood) who was my only outside staffer, although I don’t think we ever paid him — my ignorance. He did amazing things with our guard and together we created and taught winning choreography.

I was only there four years. Band grew from 39 (with 8th graders) to 93 with only grades 9-12, including 18 flags and 6 rifles….

In KY, we competed in “Band Size” competitions, which put us against large schools. When we could compete in “School Size” competitions, our band was normally 2-3x the size of our competitors.

We had a good run, receiving lots of guard, other caption and top placement awards. At the State Level, we were in Class C (there was no Class D at the time) and ranked 4th twice. Last year, that same school won 1st place in the small division in Scholastic Class, which also did not exist during my tenure.

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Floppy Installation

Personal experience, Sales and Marketing, Small Business, Social Media, Throw Back Thursday /

Joan and I are going to a place that sells both music instrument stuff and Apple tech. While she gets her bassoon reeds, should take this disk tray in and ask for recommendations on computer to utilize these. WhatDaYaThink? Would they even know what these are?

Note: This was from our business’ first computer software installation (early 80’s). I remember liking Word Perfect better than Word. Software was on 20+ disks, plus …. well you can see the 4th disk for printer installation. #floppydisks

I’m gonna impress some people today, ya think?

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Commitment: Cheerleader to Percussion and back

Assistant Directing, High Schools, Marching Band, News and Happenings, Personal experience, Repost, Respect, Throw Back Thursday /
Cheer for first half, band for halftime, back to cheer for 2nd half

One of my all time favorites because it shows commitment and dedication. This girl is a cheerleader during the first half of the game, then, while the other cheerleaders have a break, she runs to the band, grabs her drum and marches halftime…..and then back to cheer for the rest of the game.

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Rossini

High Schools, Music Department, Personal experience, Repost, Solo Prep, Teaching Music, Technology in the Classroom, Throw Back Thursday /

Clarinet soloA few years ago, probably the last time I played thru a top-tier piece, I was alone on the local hs stage using Smart-accompaniment on a laptop and audio recording via phone…. I was probably preparing to assign it as I had made cuts for solo festival limits. I did flub the final 38-note run up to that high Ab (couldn’t hold onto it)…. but the rest of the 7-pages went well and fast, phone audio microphone considered.

Anyway… I recently shared the online link for someone to listen for some of the things we’re working on … (scales, arpeggios, chromatics, articulation, ornaments, etc). Told the parental I was going to look for the music. FOUND IT, well Joan did. No, not going to assign (yet), but do intend to use it for the above-mentioned fundamentals.

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Busy dedication

Assistant Directing, Marching Band, Personal experience, Repost, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music, Throw Back Thursday /
A cheerleader who cheers first half, runs to the band lineup to perform halftime, and then back to cheer for the second half.

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Throw Back Thursday

Family, High Schools, Personal experience, Throw Back Thursday /

This is David’s entrance from his hs production of The Wiz. Once he gets fully lubricated, he adds choreography (his own) to the song. Video is under 4 minutes. Enjoy.

 

https://youtu.be/ErC3btVIiLo

 

 

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Virginia Beach Music Festival and the 3rd Floor Balcony

2 Comments / High Schools, Marching Band, Personal experience, Storytelling, Throw Back Thursday /

The Virginia Beach Music Festival was a multi-day event that included competitions in Marching, Concert, Parade, Jazz, and Inspection. 

Normally a band year has multiple seasons. Summer and Fall are mostly Marching Band. Some competitions included an inspection element, which included standing at attention for about 15 minutes while someone went through with white gloves and inspected selected instruments and uniforms. Marching season transitions into Concert Band — and Jazz Band starts up. Late Spring and early Summer is parade season. 

To prepare for Virginia Beach, all that had to be going on simultaneously. 

During school, the concert band would rehearse. Jazz Band was after school and evenings were a combination of marching, parade and inspection practice.

The campus had a long driveway that we used, but would often go through a couple of the neighborhood blocks. Inspections involved Copenhaver’s paddle. We would stand at attention and he would walk in front of us, stopping to stare and to grab and check instruments. If anything was wrong, he’d say, “That’s one”, which meant he would get you with the paddle when he got behind you, which could be several minutes later. And if you moved when he whacked you, guess what. Right. I never got the paddle. 

The first time Holmes participated in 1969, (my Freshman year) Holmes was Grand Champion. We returned in 1970 as “Honor Band” for the event. 

Director Copenhaver was from Virginia and our two Greyhound busses stoped at a park near his hometown for a community-provided picnic. I remember one of the busses got stuck crossing a small creek. 

Two memorable events at the hotel we used. First, was one evening during the week when Mr. Copenhaver was in the parking lot and looked up at many of us on the balconies and said, 

“They know we’re here.”

Other than when actually winning an event, it was the happiest I recall him looking and sounding. 

The other was an evening when a group of seniors came knocking on our door. I was in a room with three other freshmen boys. They were there for “initiation”, which normally included some combination of ice down the underwear with shaving cream there and everywhere else — and then locked out of the room. 

The four of us (I think we all four), went over the balcony. The floors were close enough together that we could go from floor to floor…. Until we could jump to the ground. 

I can’t believe I did that. 

But I never experienced “initiation”. And I never did that to anyone else.

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