Band

I started saxophone in 4th grade, which would have been Fall of 1965, which was then Gary Grimm's (who did Realtor work outside of school) first year. He came to Rheems every week or so and I was let out of class for a lesson, private since there were no others at Rheems taking woodwinds at that time. I never took private lessons, except those offered by the school, so those free lessons from Gary Grimm lasted my throughout high school. My father bought me the saxophone from the music store than was later torn down and replaced by Wendy's (or the eye doctor site), across from the present location of the K-Mart. It must have been a new store, or a new owner, at that time because the owner sold us a box of sax reeds for the price of one reed. We returned them after he discovered the error as we had no idea and, apparently, neither did he.

Noah Klauss was the orchestra director when I was in 7th grade - when I was in the Jr. High orchestra and he led both Sr. and Jr. orchestras. He knew and taught a lot of music. I got my first Boy Scout merit badge, on the way to Eagle scout and 47 merit badges, in music using Noah Klauss as an area expert (as allowed by Boy Scout rules). I think that Noah Klauss was at EAHS when my mother was in high school, which was then located on Poplar Street, in the early 1950's. His (adopted) son JK was in my EAHS class, in the youth group at St. Paul's United Methodist church where I got to know him.

Gary Grimm was still the band director when I got to 8th grade, in 1969. To make the senior band bigger, about a dozen of us 8th graders started in senior band at band camp (every day at school) before starting 8th grade. Many students made fun of him, his read hair, etc., but I thought he did a very good job.

Noah Klauss retired and Mr. Hatz replaced him. Mr. Hatz was also an older musician and accomplished conductor, but some of the other kids would try to play jokes which lessened the musical experience.

A young and apparently fresh out of school James Hoffman appeared at Band Camp in 9th grade (1970), the first of five years when the band actually went for a whole week to a dedicated camp. I remember him always talking about audio technology, speakers, amps, etc., but I he was not a woodwind person and he did the Junior band so I had little contact with him. Since I went to Sr. Band in 8th grade, he might have been there in 1969 without me realizing it. Bruce Merkel eventually replaced his a few years later.

Gary Grimm left after two years and was succeeded by Roy Folmer, a former marine, short and stout, and who would scream a lot and have his face get all red. He pretty much got everyone marching in step, and we did well in the jazz and marching band competitions (Warwick was the marching band competitor in the county) but it was stressful for some students. I had a lot of band friends in the grade in front of me so, his first year, Folmer must have thought I was older and put me in the 11-12 county band when I was only in 10th grade.

After Mr. Hatz, Mrs. Hoops led the orchestra until I graduated. I was in the Sr. orchestra from 9th grade until I graduated.

Although saxophones are traditionally not part of an orchestra, BG and I, although we did sometimes did play more than we were supposed to play (sometimes filling rest measures with parts from other instruments during practice), we were always ready to play on-time, never missed practice, never did any joking that detracted from the musical experience, stopped when the conductor stopped, and were in general serious about practice sessions and performance.

About this time (not sure of the year), in band camp, a new and smiling Mr. Merkel was talked into being "initiated" by being tied up and shaving cream put on his face.

Roy Folmer liked band competitions. Warwick was the primary competitor, led by Dale Weller. Dale Weller had been at EAHS but apparently got passed over for the full time position and then moved to Warwick and created probably the best band and music program in the county for many years. They were the only band comparable to our band (and probably better) during my senior high years and provided competition for us.

During the last several years, there was a lot of competition between the trumpets with (underclass) PK trying to out-do the more senior and very competitive trumpet players. I could go on and on but that is enough for now.

A friend and fellow saxophone player (underclassman) BG started in the senior band when he was in 7th grade (and I was in 8th grade), entering during the middle of the football season. By 11th grade, he and I were bored at band camp and started switching positions each time we went through the half-time routine. We were next to each other, so it was not very difficult. In 12 grade, the band split near the end of the routine to form a big arc so that two saxophones were on the left side and two saxophones were on the right. We switched every time and during successive games. And remember, Folmer would have screamed at us if he had seen either of us out of step or make a wrong turn - as he did to others who were unfortunate in that respect. We never did make a mistake. And he apparently never noticed.

So by my senior year, we had a lot of band members in their 5th year in senior band. I played in the (senior) stage band (8-9) and jazz band (10-12), marching and concert band (8-12) and orchestra (9-12). I was almost never in home room in the afternoon, doing music-related activities almost every such day.

Our football team was not very good during any of the years I was in the band but it was fun anyway. In 12th grade, our two best football players, a feisty DB (drums, football graduation award) and lineman CK (trombone) left the marching band to help the football team, but there was not much they could do given the quality of the other players compared to the teams we were matched against.

I never took private lessons (until graduate school in classical guitar) but I did take the music theory course in 12th grade. The last 4 years we actually went to a band camp (away from school) for a week, two at a church camp (Shippensburg area) and two at Camp Micheaux (Gettysburg area).

I occasionally played in a band or orchestra at West Point. My freshman year, I played bass saxophone in the pit orchestra for the musical "Bye Bye Birdie". So I got to hear the play over and over again, but never got to actually see what was happening.

After West Point, at Officer Basic Training for Missile Material Management in the Ordnance Corps, the wife of a classmate was taking courses at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. So, with her connections, a few of us got to play in the pep band at a basketball game.

I later played in the cadet band at West Point and, while in graduate school in computer science at Penn State (since it was covered by the tuition assistantship), I audited or took about 40 credits of music courses and classical guitar lessons. Jazz improvisation was the hardest of the courses and in conducting class I learned that what often looks easy is not really that easy.

In 1987 I developed some ear training software on the PS/2 PC to help me learn to recognize intervals, chords, etc.