Summer of 1975

 

funny how life is embedding in some ways especially when remembering a life changing experience that someone goes through and will carry  it  throughout his/her life always remembering all the little details that accumalated for it to occur. here is one that i want to describe as best as i can. it was with a certain class of kids  that i met and taught for seven straight years.

 

i first met them when they were 6th graders at falurrias texas, where i started my first job as a junior high band director. i will never forget that first day when they showed up for their first class after signing up for band. as i approached the band room, i  heard this low rumble as i approached the door and as i walked in it got louder and louder and i was sort of overwhelmed when i saw about 80 kids sitting and talking to each other oblivious to me and were really excited in meeting the new junior high band director. as i  walked in they stopped and sat in their chairs waiting for me to say something of which i started to explain what was expected and that we would do to start by bringing their instruments they had already chosen and me showing them how to put them together and how to start producing tones out of them.

 

one thing for sure, this was a very eager group of kids that exceeded their talents in so many different ways. they really worked hard to have a great spring concert in which they got a standing ovation. i knew that i was going to miss them after having them for three years preparing them to set the standards of having a good band program both in junior high and high school.

 

at the end of my third year when they were 8th graders and had really set some great standards at the junior high by getting 1st division in concert contest and bringing in more medals from solo ensemble contests. we would set a minimum amount of medals to win and we would exceed the goals.

 

when i was going to lose them after my third year as 8th graders i was then promoted to the high school to take over the high school program which had never received a 1st division in a music uil contest event. also the very first year i had about half of my 8th graders that i started in the 6th grade as freshmen because in three years some of them moved from fal because of the slowing down of the oil industry that had some oil camps in the area that were closing down.  the high school band was  one third freshman and the rest sophomores, juniors and seniors which all together totaled to about a hundred. the smallest class were the seniors followed by the juniors and sophomores. by the time we went to concert contest, the band was able to make the first 1st division in concert in the band's history. the next year we were able to make a first division in marching for the first time in high school history and concert again and by the third year when they were juniors, we went all the way to our first sweepstakes in the history of the band program. they also made it possible as seniors for our 2nd consecutive sweepstakes award.

 

now here is the part that really got to  me. at the end of the year the band always played for the graduation at the stadium, but this year the stadium had been planted with new grass and was not ready to have graduation at the stadium due to lack of grass. we had to play at the auditorium and only so many people could come to the graduation so the seniors were given a certain number of people to invite to accomodate their families for the limited seating in the auditorium. futhermore it was strange not having them in the band that evening playing with the band because they were graduating and the seniors did not play with the band and would march in with the senior class as expected.

 

after we would play the recessional and we would dismiss the band many of the graduating  band seniors would come back and say good bye to me. this evening was very strange because not one came to me to say good bye which kind of left me puzzle but i had to get home and get ready to leave for florida like i did every year right after the graduation. we used to leave after graduation and i would stop in houston or vidor and spend the night with my brother or other people that i knew so that we could get on the road to visit my in laws in florida. all the way to vidor i kept thinking about not seeing any senior after graduation after teaching them for 7 years. by the time i got to florida to spend with the in laws i was kind of down while i was there. after visiting the in laws, we headed back to falfurrias so as to start getting ready for tba convention and then starting summer band again.

 

After we got back to falfurrias i would put off in going to the band hall to start preparing for summer band. after i went to the tba convention and i finally had to go to the band hall to get ready for summer band. i finally decided to go to  the band hall and as i got out, i could almost vision the kids out on the field  marching as i walked toward the entrance doors.  as i went up the stairs i started to hear their voices as i opened the entrance to the band hall.  i started this feeling  of pressure on my chest as i started to open the door to go in and turn on the lights. as i went in, i started to hear noises coming from the band hall. as i turned on the lights it was getting louder and then i could see the same sixth graders on their first day of band with me talking and excited as the same day i met them.  the further i went in it got louder and i was having a hard time breathing because of the pressure and hearing the noise all around me.  not wanting to go any further in, i turned around to go back outside and i saw on the board where the seniors had come in and written their good byes on the board. i figured  that was the reason was because after they marched out during the recessional  into the foyer, they were not able to go back because of the people coming out after them so they went to the band hall  by taking the exit doors to the back of the auditorium where the band hall was and wrote their good byes because they couldn't see me right away and  also i imagine it was going to be hard on them and on me  to say their good byes.

 

when i saw the writings and was hearing the noises i ran outside toward the field and then i saw the band marching like we practiced on monday afternoons. i then turned around and barely made it to my car to go back home. by the time i got home, i was shaking and crying of which my wife took me to dr penly in which he started to laugh when he saw and i told him what cause me to do this. he said that it would take sometime and gave me some pills (valium) that would help me get back to my usual self. still i had a hard time adjusting so i tried not to get too involved again.

 

that was the summer of 1975 which will live forever in me.

 

sbandajr