Klarinet Archive - Posting 000365.txt from 2003/07

From: "James Hobby" <jhobby@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Memorizing music
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 11:18:14 -0400

I'm running behind on emails, so someone may have already come up with this.

Band camp was popularized in the early 50s. Prior to that, much marching
band performance had been similar to military band -- moving block drill. A
man by the name of A.R.Casavant took what was isolated pockets of bands that
were trying to break away from marching back and forth in blocks and counter
march, etc., and popularized what became called precision drill, which
started out as mostly line drill. (Over a period of several years) he
developed the Casavant Camps, which were usually held at state colleges or
universities. (Some very rich schools hired him and his staff to do a
private camp at their campus.) Housing was in the dorms. In addition to
ARC & his family, he hired past students and students from the respective
music departments to work the camps. You could buy as much or as little as
you wish. You could bring your own music and drill, and have the staff
administer your camp. Or you could buy the arrangement, the drill, and all
the instruction. Actually, you could buy a "canned set" which were the ones
he had done in previous years and then published. (He was a good arranger.
Good music; good arrangements.) Or you could go all the way and have him
write your show and your arrangement -- your choice of music or his; however
you wanted -- with a guarantee that no one would see the charts until you
went on the field the first time. (This service started at $1500 per minute
for music & drill, alone.)

Depending on availability of staff, there would be from one to five bands on
campus per week. After a few years, one of his sons took on a
co-administrator role and they might have camps operating in two or three
states at the same time. By the time I lost track of him, he had literally
hundreds of arrangements/drill sets available for sale and probably 150
instructional books: "Reverse Block Drill", "Wrapping the Block",
"Countergates", etc. with drawings and instructions for how to perform
individual maneuvers from the "unit" (usually 4 people) up to the entire
band. Your camp took the music and drill, taught the students both. There
were separate instructors for the guard, the majorettes <arg!>, the drum
major(s). Even the band director was instructed how to take the
instruction further.

Precision drill, over the next few years, became more and more complex.
Then, as everything does, the popular thing changed, and now most bands
march drum corps style, but they still have band camps. (ARC died a few
months ago. He had been in retirement for several years.)

Our HS band has its band camp the last week in July. Kids received their
music the first of July, and are supposed to have it memorized by the time
band camp starts. My granddaughter needs to get on the stick or she won't
have hers memorized.

Jim

>From: "Raycraft" <raycraft@-----.com>
>Subject: >Whoa, my school musta been too cheap. I never even HEARD of band
>camp in those days. Did they have it back then, or is that a newer thing?
>(never than ME, anyway?)
>We *did* play with the lyre/flip folder, even in parades. The band director
>never once asked us to memorize anything.
>The high school in the town I live in now, has the kids start practice a
>full month before the beginning of the school year, and they practice five
>days a week, from 9am to 9pm. They memorize EVERYTHING. They
>aren't even allowed to eat any sugar during that time, let alone
>drugs...........
>Sue
>P.S. I just asked my husband, who went to school in upstate NY,
>and he says they definitely had to memorize the music. Now I know the
>truth. My school was cheap. :-(

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