ROY
LONGHORN BAND
ROY
LONGHORN BAND
To show them off, we
ordered sequined twirling outfits from
New
York. I'll never
forget Penny's eyes
as we opened the package and she
took
her uniform out of the box. "This can't be all of it", she said,
as she held up the little wad of lycra and sequins. We expected
criticism
from some of the locals once these outfits were seen in public, but it
never happened. Anytime I suspected that criticism was coming, I
deflected
it with the comment that "it's much too dangerous to twirl fire batons
in more modest costumes...... these are much safer." It worked! And I might add that the girls looked great!We got 'new outfits' for the drummers, too. ( I always enjoyed referring to them as "dumbers".....I know they got sick of that, but I had fun.) At that time, the old low-slung snare drum was out of style. The "Hi-Stepper" was in. The hi-stepper was a metal contraption which held a concert snare out in front of the drummer's chest. This allowed it to be played with the sticks in a like-hand position and it also allowed for the high knee step marching style of the day......hence, the name.
Things change, styles
come and go. The hi-stepper
is no
more. I kinda miss it, but I don't miss the 'high-stepping' in any way.
The more conservative, less flashy, normal walking step is much more
conducive
to good playing. It was very difficult, if not impossible to play well
when you were lifting your knees up to your chin !
Roy drummers may find it
interesting that I'm
still using
our 'cadence' ( remember it? )
today, 2003, in Clayton, though we also use others.
At this point and in
thinking about the percussion
section,
I feel like ratting on another good student.......ha.........this is so
much fun. ( students are welcome to get back at me by posting stories
on
the band students message board.)
Anyway, her name is Laura Mackey. She had big, beautiful Goldie Hawn
type
eyes, and she probably holds the world record for 'muffed' cymbal
crashes.
For those who don't know, if cymbals are crashed together at the wrong
angle, a vacuum is created, and instead of a crash while the cymbals
slide
past each other.....you get a 'thunk' as the cymbals lock together
momentarily.
It's most surprising to the cymbal player....Laura's eyes would get
even
bigger; and it's nearly fatal to the band director, who is expecting a
crash, cues it for all the world to see, and then gets a 'thunk'
instead.
Reactions are directly proportional to whether said 'thunks' happen in
a rehearsal or in a performance.
Performance 'thunks' are much more devastating to all concerned.
Back to the marching
band. We had a lot of
fun. We've all heard stories of mean ol' band directors making
their groups do half-time shows in the rain. Well, one rainy night at
Roy I called the band off the field in the middle of their show.
They were furious with me, and went back out in the rain to finish the
show. That's dedication !
Whenever Penny and
Barbara twirled fire batons, we
made sure to have fire extinguishers handy for safety. Good thing, too.
Penny dropped hers one night and the field was so dry that a pretty
good sized spot was branded into the grass before we could put it
out. The funniest thing I remember, tho, was one night when the girls
were twirling 'hoop batons'. Again, Penny dropped hers (sorry,
Penny...I know I'm probably gonna pay for this ) and it went rolling
down the field with Penny behind, chasing it.
Just so I don't seem to
be having fun at the
expense of the Roy gang, here's a true story which has nothing to do
with Roy. While still in college, I had substituted one fall for six
weeks at Farwell, TX. One night, the drum major was out in front
of the band on the field, giving the forward march signal to begin the
show, when the big silver drum major's baton slipped from her hand and
flew about fifteen yards behind her..........
.......and STUCK in the ground. She got a standing ovation !
My last year at Roy we
added three more
twirlers...Tima Ebell, Jeri Moore, and Sherri Martinez . Sherri was an
excellent twirler, but she had learned to twirl by spinning the baton
counterclockwise (most twirlers go clockwise). This was really no
problem, as we didn't do that many 'syncronized' routines. Usually each girl just did her own thing.
Occasionally, when doing a fire routine we would
place Sherri in the middle, facing the other direction...and then all
the batons would be going the same direction.
I remember marching in a
parade in Springer.
Everyone's eyes got really large as we went through the underpass
playing our drum cadence and the volume tripled.
I also remember
embarrassing the group (as I was
wont to do on many occasions...ha)
in Las Vegas. We had finished marching in a parade and had stopped to
get something to eat. However, the drive-in was on one side of the
street and we were on the other; and the traffic was quite heavy. No
problem....I simply started blowing my whistle and holding up my hand,
stopping traffic so the kids could cross the street. Some of them did.
Others ran back to the bus to hide, not wanting to admit they even knew
that crazy man with the whistle.
There's one more good
story I want to share at
this point. I really don't remember whether this took place at a
concert or at contest.....surely not at contest. I had made the mistake
of telling the kids how once in college at ENMU someone had placed a
Playboy centerfold in the middle of Mr. T's score. (Floren Thompson,
II) . Me and my big mouth!
Anyway, whereever it was, we were playing one of our numbers and as I
turned the page of my score (music) there it was...........Anyone
remember the centerfold that Playboy ran of "twins"? Yep, that's
the one! I looked up at the kids to find their faces redder than
mine.......they knew exactly in the music where it was coming and they
were ready for it.
Remember, we were performing at this time, so no one dared laugh.
I'm sure I probably
rolled my eyes and
smiled.....then just kept on conducting and turning pages. . A few
pages later I decided to get even........I began thumbing "back"
through my score to where the centerfold was. When I looked out
at the group this time, some of the faces were blue, air was leaking
out around mouthpieces, and some of the students were literally bobbing
up and down in their seats. But they remained professional.....no one
broke up, no one laughed out loud, but everyone "hurt'" when the number
was finally over. Ah, those were the good ol' days!
Back to my first year in
Roy ( sorry about the
jumping around...that's just the way my mind works...if it works at all
). Band seniors that year were Lanette Allen, clarinet / Boodie
Mackey, alto sax / Tim Filkins, alto sax / Francis Laumbach,
tenor sax / and Barbara Riley, clarinet. Barbara had left during
her Senior year to begin college early, so she wasn't one of my
students.
The north door to the
band hall was the outside
entrance. There was also a south door inside which opened into a small
hallway connecting the band hall to the gym. There was a stage at the
north end of the gym, so this small hallway consisted of a short
staircase, about 5 steps up to stage level from both the gym and band
hall sides. Needless to say, going from the band hall to the gym and
back was a noisy affair, clomping up and down the steps.
The gym wasn't just for
sports. The stage made it
useful for meetings, graduation, concerts and various other programs.
However, we never used the stage for our band concerts, but set up on
the gym floor instead. I don't remember why...I'm sure there was enough
room on the stage for our small band. Perhaps the stage lighting wasn't
adequate for reading music.
Of course, we all know
what the acoustics are like
in a gymnasium. At one of our concerts we played a march called
'Salutation' which has a big "Boom, Boom" spaced at eight measure
intervals during the trio. Just for fun, we played those two notes with
a heavy accent, and I had Corrine Barbeau hit the bass drum as hard as
she could.
There were gasps in the audience, but luckily no one fell off the
bleachers with a coronary.
At one of our Xmas
concerts we rounded up a choir
from the churches in town. They performed a couple numbers with the
band, one being Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from his 9th symphony.
They also helped to lead the audience in a sing-along of carols,
accompanied by Dorothy Pendleton on piano. I can honestly say that in
all my years of being involved with music and various accompanists, I
never heard Dorothy make a
mistake of any
kind....ever. She's the only
one I can say that about; and I'm sure that if she were still with us
she would modesly say it isn't
so........ but it's true.
One day as I was
exiting the band hall via
the north outside door (which had a ramp, by the way, not steps) I
noticed several students hanging around outside with strange
expressions on their faces. Then I noticed that my car was missing.
What can I say? Kids will be kids. Although the keys were in my pocket,
I had left the car open and they were very pleased with themselves that
they had pushed it around the corner of the gym, just out of sight. Not
to place blame, but as I recall David Pendleton and a group of football
players had something to do with it. But as Dennis Miller says...."I
could be wrong".
On a related note, my
brother tells of the time he
and some other high school boys picked up someone's small car in Jal
and placed it between two building...so that it's front bumper was
against one building and the rear bumper against the other.....just a
fit !
I remember one of the
plays performed in the gym,
because I was a class sponsor that year. Leon Hansen was the 'ghost' in
the play. We smeared an ol' sheet with phosphorescent paint and draped
it over him. When the lights were turned out it was really quite
effective. I also remember making the entire cast wear sneakers. This
has always been a pet peeve of mine.....nothing is more
irritating than having the dialogue of a play drowned out by the
clomping of feet on a stage, especially in a gymnasium.
I went to the ballet with
my wife ONCE. Attending
a live ballet is the same thing...you can't hear the music for all the
clomping and stomping on the stage, and the music is what I came to
hear. I still will watch ballet on television, but no more live
performances for me.
This
page is 'Baby Boomer' friendly, with LARGE TYPE throughout.
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