Wow, That's Old!

December Blog

A Slidin’ Santa, A Rodeo, and a Rivalry. Sure does sound like the beginning of the typical, “three guys walk into a bar”, joke. Although I do attempt to be humorous at times, the Santa, rodeo, and rivalry is not my attempt to tell a joke.

However, I can be very funny at times. My wife will remind me, while tears are streaming down my face as I laugh about something I said, “That is only funny in your mind.”

Prior to becoming a firefighter, I was a middle school band director in Indiana. I loved teaching middle school. No, seriously, still not joking. Middle school students that join band, orchestra, or choir are the best, messed up, out of control, emotionally confused, and wonderful kids in the world. They have so much going against them as they enter middle school.

Here are a few examples. They will switch from class to class and no longer sit in a single classroom. The comfort they felt of knowing all of the people in their grade school class is replaced by students from other grade schools meshing with them at a new school. Many will start going through puberty. Puberty wrecks havoc on all of the kids. They begin changing emotionally, physically, and hormonally thus creating a lot of little Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-type beings walking in the hallways.

There are many other life-changing events that happen to middle school students added to the ones I have mentioned, and, the changes to those students are what scares a lot of teachers away from teaching in middle school.

However, suppose a teacher has a passion for the profession, pride in the pupils, and perseverance in production, in that case, they can produce middle school music students that persevere through problematic puberty problems and become proud producers of perfectly enjoyable productions.

Yup, I enjoy alliteration.

To help a student, in band and orchestra, to open a case correctly, assemble the instrument correctly, and (choir added in this one) produce an organized sound as a member of an ensemble, to performing a Christmas/holiday/whatever you want to call the time before winter break, concert, is truly amazing.

During my last three years of teaching middle school band, before entering the fire service, I had the opportunity to teach in a school district with a phenomenal head band director who knew how to recruit students. She was a great teacher, mentor, and person. (I have not asked her permission to use her name. However, when I am able to contact her and receive permission, I will edit this post to include her name. Giving her much-deserved credit and accolades.)

Okay, back to my last three years of teaching middle school.

One of the classes I taught was a sixth-grade low brass class. We had to break up the sixth-grade students into like-instrument classes because we had around 500 students in the sixth-grade band program. In my low brass class, I had over 30 trombones, 12 baritones, 6 tubas, and a couple of horn players that couldn’t get into the high brass class.

With 30 beginning trombone players, I had to think of a piece of music the band could play at the Christmas concert that would allow them to do glissandos. Think about the scene, 30 beginning trombonists with the capability to either make one of the most annoying or one of the coolest sounds on an instrument. My philosophy is, if we train them the right way when they are young, there is a better chance they will continue playing the right way as they get older.

The glissando learning began as the non-trombonist watched and listened in amazement, and possibly a little bit of jealousy. The guys and gals gripped the glissando playing with gusto. (Alliteration always intended)

I decided to arrange a piece of music that would incorporate the glissando for the Christmas concert. The “What-if” part of my brain kicked in and the arranging began.

What if Santa was on top of the roof and it had snow and ice all over it? Wouldn’t he slip and slide? What sound could possibly be used to represent a person slipping and sliding?

So, Slidin’ Santa was created. I took the classic, “Up on the Housetop” written in 1864 making it 158 years old as of this writing, wow, that’s old, and incorporated the glissando. The kids loved it and played it with gusto.

As we fast forward 22 years in time, I was unpacking a few boxes while setting up my music studio and I found one of my rough copies of Slidin’ Santa. I laughed as I looked at the score and remembered the fun we had learning the piece.

“Up on the housetop, Reindeer…BRAAAAWAAAAABRAAAAWAAA”

While unpacking, my neighbors, Kirk, Gennie, and Justin visited. I mentioned them in a previous blog but identified them as the firefighter family neighbors. They are great neighbors and we love sitting, chatting, and laughing with them.

Let me take this time to say, we had great neighbors in Indiana too, but, we were always working and didn’t have the opportunity to sit and talk with them.

On this particular visit, we asked them about the rodeo that comes to our new hometown.

“There are two rodeos, actually,” they said, “One in March and the other in October. It is the oldest rodeo in Florida.”

This year will be the 95th year of the rodeo. However, the rodeo in October was canceled because of hurricane Ian.

“Wow, that’s old,” I thought, “A 95-year-old rodeo is pretty impressive.” As a youngster, I had toyed with the thought of becoming a rodeo clown. I had also thought about becoming a clown at the Barnum and Bailey Circus, a puppeteer for Jim Henson productions, and a pilot.

My dreams of playing my horn, teaching lessons, and making stuff in my workshop would be put on hold until I retired from the fire department. Or so I thought.

When we decided where we were going to live in Florida, I contacted the local band director and asked if he would like some help with the band program. He agreed to meet and decided he could tolerate working with me. Thank you, Fernando Frank.

I walked into the school the day after our meeting/interview to see Mr. Frank talking to another person in the office. He introduced me to Dr. White, the principal.

To make a long story a little bit longer, Dr. White extended a teaching position to me and I accepted. I was the new Guitar, Ukulele, and general music teacher for the high school. As I got to know Mr. Frank and Dr. White, I began to learn the history of the town, school, and the oldest high school football rivalry in the state of Florida. This year marks the 101st year of the rivalry. Wow, that’s old!

Although I enjoyed being back in the classroom, I had decided, after 4 weeks into the school year, I needed to concentrate on developing my trumpet studio and getting gigs. My wife and I had discussed my trumpet-playing plans after retirement for the past seven years. I had been looking forward to playing my horn in rock/funk bands, jazz bands, big bands, dance bands, concert bands, musical theater, and any combination of bands that could use a trumpet. My wife and son were excited to attend concerts and shows once again.

Although I have decided to remove myself from teaching guitar, ukulele, and general music at the high school upon the completion of the first semester, I will continue to cheer for the teams, support the students, and work with the band.

I know I could play in groups while teaching during the day, but, my dream and desire are to feel as if I retired and was free to create music.

Learning the history of a town, a person, and music can be an important part of knowing how to interact or respond. However, we have to be very discerning in how much history we wish to learn and if it is true history.

For example, one of my favorite artists is Phil Collins and I have always wanted to play in the Phenix Horns.

Anyway, the tune, “In the Air Tonight”, by Phil Collins, tells a story of a tragedy. When it first hit the radio, everyone talked about how Phil Collins had watched a man, that had raped a woman, drown and he didn’t help him. Pssst. In his memoir, “Not Dead Yet”, Mr. Collins tells the true story behind the song. Read the book, it is a fascinating read.

Back to history.

When I play my horn, I will take the time to look up pieces in order to read the history. I want to know the “why” and sometimes the “how” it was written. Knowing the inspiration, meaning, and context helps me play the music as close to the way the composer/writer had intended.

After all of the above words, I guess I would like to say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or a person by their history. Learn the history, learn the person, and make great music.

Now that I am going to play my horn and teach lessons, I guess it is time for me to write my own musical history during retirement. Getting older really isn't too bad. Not too bad at all.