Klarinet Archive - Posting 000672.txt from 1999/07

From: Ken Wolman <Ken.Wolman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] School Music Programs
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 13:56:48 -0400

el2@-----.edu wrote:
>
> On Tue, 20 Jul 1999, Karl Krelove wrote:
>
> > This sounds like an August "band camp" schedule in a place that's too
> > hot in the afternoon to march. Does this schedule somehow continue
> > once school starts?
>
> They call it their "band camp," but it lasts from early July until school
> starts in mid-August. I'm not sure what schedule this particular school
> has once the academic year gets underway.

My younger son, who just graduated from high school, spent four years in
his marching band as trumpeter and solo baritone horn player. That
meant four band camp summers. Where he went to school, band camp was a
week in mid-August in Eastern Pennsylvania. It was a combination of
choreography to learn the steps and routines plus figuring out how to
walk, march, dance, twist 'n' shout, chew gum, and play your instrument
at the same time. And yes, it DID last from early morning until late in
the afternoon. According to Ben, it was repetitious, boring, fun, and
he wouldn't tell us half of what went on, so that means he must've
enjoyed himself:-).

It was grueling work but it was also hard play: shortsheeting beds,
tying up kids with duct tape (it isn't just for fixing bass clarinets
anymore), throwing the newly-appointed drum majors into the lake in full
uniform, and not sleeping very much. The first year, Ben got home late
on a Saturday afternoon and said he was going to lay down for 10 minutes
before dinner was ready. When my then-wife sent me to wake him, I
could've blown his trumpet in his ear and gotten NOTHING. He woke up 15
hours later.

Band camp could also get nasty...as when one of Ben's classmates was
kicked out because he (the classmate) was caught with a stash of
marijuana and cocaine. The kid was clapped into rehab.

After band camp, there were daily rehearsals of about a hour each to
keep the kids tuned up. On most Saturdays the kids had the football
game and in the evenings they had a regional competition that culminated
in an East Coast Regional "play-off" in Giants Stadium. The bands were
sorted by size. The Wayne Valley band invariably won first place for
its drum line, which was fantastic, and came in near the top in overall
performance. Some of the other competing bands were just astonishingly
good.

The marching band, after football season ended, became the concert band
and played a Holiday Concert in December and a full-scale
band-and-chorus recital in March or April; so there was a chance to
perform a repertoire that wasn't just disco marches or march tempo
versions of Jesus Christ Superstar. After all, one of the kids who
played the snares on the drum line played the oboe in concert band....

Ken
--
Ken Wolman dbtrader Deutsche Bank, N.A.
1251 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10019 212-469-6494
Teach someone to fish and you have helped them survive another day.
Teach them to surf the Net and they won't bother you for weeks.

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