Never one to shirk from debate, Utech posted in the comments of my State of the HMB entry and raised the question:
“what if we didn’t march that well? I’m not saying that junior band is good, or that they’re better than we were. But I just wonder if every generation of HMB has an inflated perception of their talent level, especially as it relates to the current junior band.”
I’ve been waiting for that, I knew it was coming. I can completely understand the comment because most of do tend to fall under the “Damn, I’m good” spell when we reminisce about our past days in the HMB. Again, Doogie and I talked about this on Saturday (there was a lot of down time in the second half of that game. guh). We had some not-so-great shows, the four-day shows, the Aerosmith/In Heaven There is No Beer show. *shudder* I am of the mind that, sure, we weren’t perfect, there were probably other incarnations of the HMB that were better, but we had our moments and we worked hard for those moments. My general point is that the LKK era has had like um, maybe one moment of greatness, and then I’m not even sure what that would be. They did “Thriller” after I graduated and the arrangment was good, but I don’t remember the drill as that fetching. (Doogie? Jeff?) The very first show under his tutelage (Malaguena, etc) had promise, and we had some great arrangements from Lubaroff, but its all been downhill from there.
As one of those lucky(?) souls who got to experience the band under Henning, Jones, and Kastens, I truly believe we were good my first three years in. As much as people bitched about Henning, the band was good. I realize I was a freshman at the time and everything looked fabulous and amazing to my rookie eyes, but thanks to the magic of video tape, I can look back on my first show and see that we did the tigerhawk for pre-game, the Batman symbol and the script “Iowa” for halftime and it looked good. Curves were curves, people went where they were supposed to go and the band actually played with *gasp* dynamics. On the flip side, I was there to witness the loss of concern for learning FUNDAMENTALS. I was there when we stopped practicing outside in the afternoon of hell week because it was too hot. I was there on Saturday mornings when we still hadn’t run the show straight through but we were still marching on just drums. And I know I should let it go, but like sports fans that hang on to missed plays and balls that rolled through legs, I just can’t. I cared too much and still do.
It comes down to desire and the willingness to work. Sure Henning wanted us to look good so he’d look good, but hey, at least he had a goal. Jones wanted us to look good because he simply didn’t accept anything less, and he’d get down off the tower and tell you that in no uncertain terms. Kastens has the air that he couldn’t care less. Just as long as you use the zero points and follow all the crap in the handbook, that’s all that matters. There was never any challenge to anything I performed for Kastens. (Except “Duel of the Fates,” but that wasn’t really a challenge, that was an impossibility mixed with a death wish.)
I think that’s what I loved about Jones, he gave us material that took all season to get right and then it was only perfect one time, but that one performance of “Stars and Stripes” was worth more than my entire last two years in band. For those few moments, all 250+ of us were there together in the moment, giving our all and just putting on an amazing show.
And I’ve seen the tape. Damn, we were good.
This is why I feel so bad for the current encarnation of the HMB, they just don’t have the desire, they’re content in their mediocrity, happily marching their lame not-a-high-step high step, not wearing their uniforms, and performing their crappy “curves in the back field with a follow-the-leader” shows.
I’ll rant more later, but I need to work and then wait for someone to call me back with the diagnosis of my sax. *crosses fingers*
