Throwback Thursday

Yes, that is me, I was a "band geek"; a marching and concert/symphonic band geek. This photograph was taken my senior year of high school (1979). I am in my marching band uniform. Let us entitle this photograph, Girl with Trombone.

I began playing trombone as a fluke really.

My grade school, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, did not have a music instructor in residence. Mr. Ed Miller was a travelling band director. He would visit parochial schools in the area and teach children to play musical instruments and direct the bands.

I was in fourth grade when I first met Mr. Miller. I wanted to play the trumpet but he said he needed a trombone player and that I had the perfect embouchure (the way in which a player applies their mouth to the mouthpiece of a brass or wind instrument) for playing the trombone and I also had long enough arms to reach the slide positions for some of the notes. Mr. Miller also happened to know where my parents could buy a used trombone at a decent price. The trombone had belonged to a student who had died in a farming accident (or so I was led to believe).

I was never stellar at reading music (something I may remedy before I "wake from this dream of life"). I tended to play better by ear than site read.  Mr. Miller would mark the slide positions over the notes if I needed them. Each year the parochial schools would get together for competitions against one another. One year, I had a solo during a competition. It was at the beginning of the song, King of the Road.  I was very nervous about playing my solo but I performed it perfectly.

I liked marching band much more than concert/symphonic band. I enjoyed being outside and learning the steps, moves and music for each of the shows we performed. Not only did the marching band perform during half-time shows at football games, we also marched during local parades such as the Homecoming and Christmas parades.

Every summer the marching band participated in the Indiana State Fair Band Day competition. When home, we practiced twice a day (morning and evening) and while at band camp, we practiced three times a day. We were working on the music and moves of our show that would last between four to six minutes. Each year there were roughly fifty bands in the competition. All bands would march in the morning and then the judges would decide who would march in the "Sweet 16" during the evening shows. One of the 16 bands would become the number one marching band in Indiana. I marched in the competition three years: 1976-we placed 3rd, 1977-we placed 7th and 1978-we placed 5th. Of course, we wanted first place, but making the "Sweet 16" was sweet.

In 1977, the marching band went to Disney World during spring break on chartered buses. We were invited to march in the Magic Kingdom on April 5th. A consultant at Disney World, who was a judge in the 1976 State Fair Contest, was the one who gave us the invitation. Everyone on the buses were so excited when we sited our first palm tree along the roadside.

Before we went to Orlando, we were scheduled to play a one-hour concert on the final evening of the Festival of States in St. Petersburg. We played in the city's band shell. I remember a lot of ancient people attending the concert.

While in Orlando, not only did we march in the parade, we had time for various Disney World activities and a visit to Sea World. I knew I always wanted to live in Florida and that visit in 1977 made me even more determined to do so (now I am becoming one of those ancient people in the Sunshine State).

In May of 1978, the marching band participated in the Indianapolis 500 Parade. We were the 88th unit in the parade and performed for roughly 150,000 parade-goers (it is over 300,000 today and more than a million television viewers). The parade route was roughly two miles long and took about 90 minutes to march. There is a piece of black and white carpeting along the route. They call it the VIP/TV zone. When our band hit that carpeting, we played and marched as cameras broadcast us live on television. I remember that day was hot. We were wearing our heavy band uniforms. I am not sure, but I think someone in the band might have even fainted.

I no longer have my trombone. Many years ago, I loaned it to one of my nephews. He thought he might want to take it up. He didn't and I have not seen it since.

Hopefully someone somewhere is playing it...and playing it better than I ever did.