Introducing Albert Richard Casavant Today we have the greatest fortune to hear from Albert Richard (A.R.) Casavant, who will be delivering our Keynote Address on this year's Symposium theme - Beginnings. He remarks will touch on many aspects of his philosophy and experiences, as well as the characteristics of the marching arts in the mid-twentieth century. A.R. Casavant hails from Warren, OH where he lived until high school graduation in 1935. He played Trumpet in the school band and in the numerous community bands that flourished in the Midwest at the time. After high school he enrolled in the Tennessee Military Institute (TMI) in Sweetwater, TN. He studied business administration there and led the regimental band. He graduated in 1938 and remained as an instructor while attending the University of Tennessee at Knoxville on a track scholarship. In 1938 he started the band program at McMinn County High School in nearby Athens, TN. Casavant went to Chattanooga High School to teach in 1944 and stayed until 1959. He continued his education at the then private University of Chattanooga as a pre-med student. In addition to his teaching and college studies, Casavant led the local American Legion Post drum and bugle corp to a state marching championship in 1952 and 1953. Demand for Casavant's clinics became so great thatn in 1959 he left teaching and began his career as clinician, author, publisher, researcher, inventor, and distributor of marching materials. He led a series of summer camps known as the Casavant Cavalcade and taught summer sessions at VanderCook College of Music. These multiple vocations continued until his retirement in the early 1980's. He continues to be an observer of marching techniques and trends and was published in The Instrumentalist in 1997. Currently undergoing treatment for cancer, Casavant maintains a sharp mind and sense of humor. He recently sent me his 'chemotherapy prescription for sleep': "One pill - one night's sleep - 10 days of severe vertigo - one step to nausea - one more step to vomiting - back to no sleep." A.R. is as personable a fellow as I've ever met, modest, and fascinating to listen to. In the time that I've spent assisting Casavant (now in his fifth or sixth decade as published author) with this Keynote Address, I've grown as fond of him as I have of his ideas. His biography by Johnathan Wade Jones is the first publication I have ever read with a section on "Marching Research" - further testament to the fact that Casavant is the Father of Marching Research.