Klarinet Archive - Posting 000391.txt from 1998/12

From: Mitch Bassman <mbassman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] re:All-Virginia Band
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 21:28:03 -0500

In response to a comment from David Blumberg about "the All-Virginia band
back in the 60's," I wrote about having played in the 1965 All-Virginia
High School Band as a senior in high school. I included the statement:

>Frederick C. Ebbs (University of Iowa) was the Guest Conductor.

In a follow-up response to the list, Dave asked:
>Mitch, Was Revelli the conductor that year?? Maybe it was another year,
>possibly 1966. Do you remember Larry Scripp (the legend)? Did you know
>Maury Swartz - he is my uncle, and started me on clarinet.

Um, no, Dave, Revelli wasn't the conductor that year. It was Ebbs. :-) And
I wasn't there in 1966; 1965 was my last year in high school.

Larry Scripp and Maury Swartz? I didn't know either of them, but let's
check that record jacket again. ... Well, there's no Maury Swartz listed,
but there is a Lawrence Scripp listed first(!) in the clarinet section. (I
was ninth.) I suppose being first in the state could have made him a
legend. I confess that I don't remember much about him, but I do recall
(even this much later) having been blown away by how good the entire
clarinet section sounded -- from top to bottom including the harmony
clarinets. A quick scan of the personnel roster shows that the principal
baritone had the name John Scripp. Brothers perhaps? They are both shown as
attending Maury High School in Norfolk. That would have been far enough
away from my home that I would never have met them at any other event. I
played in the regional band every year, but they would have been in a
different region.

Those of you currently in high school might be interested in what we played
in the spring of 1965 at what was then called Madison College (now James
Madison University) in Harrisonburg, Virginia:

Dedicatory Overture -- Clifton WIlliams
Lincolnshire Posey -- Percy Grainger
Solemn Procession -- Grieg-Whitney
Days of Glory -- John Cacavas
Reflections -- Roger Nixon
Variants on a Mediaeval Tune -- Norma Dello Joio
Selections from Mary Poppins -- Sherman-Kostal

I probably haven't played any of that music since that weekend. Betcha can
guess which movie was POPular that year?

Mitch Bassman
Burke, Virginia, USA

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