TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022 - MUSIC EXPERIENCES - PART II

 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022 - MUSIC EXPERIENCES - PART II

This week I’m writing about my music experiences.

At Roosevelt Junior High School I started to play the tuba.  I was already one of the tallest kids in my grade, so I think the director talked me into playing the tuba because I could carry it!!!   I don’t remember any other tuba players (but I don’t remember too much about junior high school).  I think there was a section of maybe 4 to 5 tuba players.  I practiced.  I carried my tuba home and back (it was about 5 blocks).  I also sang in the choir.  I was still singing in the Carol Choir at church, but my voice was starting to change and the director told me to pretend to sing on the high notes, but don’t let any sound out!!!  (I could still sing the lower notes). 

I say (and I believe) that if I had not taken up the tuba and stayed with the trumpet, I would have quit playing music years ago.  I found uniqueness in playing the tuba.  Music was fun, and music kids were fun (and maybe different than sports kids).  Three years in junior high school, and then on to Jefferson High School - and the high school band (and the choir).

I rose to the first chair in the band as a sophomore student and kept that position through high school.  For those of you who have band kids, yes, I was a ‘band nerd”.  (Actually, I was quite a nerd - in the band, in the choir, in dramatics, loved math, and a founder of the chess club!!!) 

I did a tryout for All-State Band in my junior year and just barely missed out.  (I still play the piece I used as my solo as part of my warm-up). 

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Two strange things about the high school band.

In one piece, the tuba section was to slur the notes together (instead of playing each note separately).  The director stopped us during rehearsal and went one by one through the section - all the other tubas did it correctly - and the section leader (me) didn’t!!  (Ouch!!!)

For marching band, the tubas used Sousaphones - the big wrap-around tubas.  Even with the fiberglass mixed with brass, they were heavy.  So, I tried out - and got - the drum major position.  I was a lousy drum major - I didn’t strut and wasn’t a “showoff”.  The super tall hat weighed about 200 pounds (okay, that isn’t true!!), and I sweated.   

These days, the band would send the newly selected drum major to a day (or a couple of days) of “drum major school”.  But, those experiences didn’t exist back in 1963!!  (Or didn’t exist in eastern Iowa).  And, there wasn’t the competition like high school bands do today.)

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Over the years since high school, I’ve read that some colleges actually have scholarships for tubas and for drum majors - but that didn’t happen.

When I got to college, I was worried about spending too much time away from academics, so I decided I needed to choose between college concert band and college concert choir - and I chose band.  

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In college in the 1960s, I also found Rock ‘N Roll, and especially the Beatles.  My sister (three years older) was affected by Beatle Mania.  I remember when the Beatle's Movie, “A Hard Days Night” came out and was playing at a drive-in theater in Cedar Rapids. She and her friend “stuffed” me and the friend’s younger brother in the trunk and we went to the movie in her friend’s family car.  Now, that’s being cheap!!!  

Everybody in the dorm was into Rock N Roll (well, most everybody - there might have been a few country/western kids left).  We listened to the local college station that played the new music.  I remember a night when we were playing records in the dorm and I somehow was picked as the radio announcer/emcee for the night.  It was fun.  “I could have been a disk jockey” (DJ).  

I was still cheap and didn’t buy records.  The records I owned were classical and got played a lot on my tiny stereo record player.  I also borrowed more classical records from the college library and city library.  

My first Beatle Album was “Rubber Soul” in 1966.  My fraternity had a casino night and students could win chips by playing games. At the end of the evening, you could use your chips to bid on prizes.  One of the prizes was the Rubber Soul album and I had enough chips to outbid the competition and get my own Beatle album!!  Since then I have most Beatle albums on CDs - although I almost never play a CD since I have the electronic version on my computer and many of the songs on my iPhone.  I used an iPod for some time in the early 2000s and used iTunes for many of my albums.  (And, I haven’t played iTunes for years now).

I have (finally) a paid minimum subscription to Pandora and a free Spotify account.  On Pandora, I have playlists for the Beatles, the British Invasion, Peter Paul and Mary, Wagner, Tschaikowsky, Sibelius, Mahler, and Shostakovich.  (And, the classical composers probably have a 5 to 1 ratio of playing time than Rock ‘N Roll.)

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In college, my roommate was a music major and sang in the choir, played the first trumpet in the band, sang in a church choir, and had a small trio.  He got into the Tri-College Symphony Orchestra and invited me to play the tuba. WOW - I was playing in a REAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA!!!!!  One piece that I liked and remember is “Dance Rhythms” by Wallingford Riegger.  How can you go back to the band after playing with a symphony orchestra?  But, there weren’t many opportunities to play in a symphony after college.

I didn’t own my own tuba, so like many people when I graduated I thought my music was over (but God/fate/desires provided ways).  

I taught high school for two years and went back for my master's degree - and did play in the campus concert band.  But then teaching, marriage, children - and the playing of music went away.

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Fast forward to 1984.  I moved to Madison, South Dakota, and Dakota State University.  I found a summer band that played on the courthouse square and played with that group (and both of my children did too).  The college had a small concert band and a pep band, and I was back playing TUBA again (using a college tuba!!!).  And I was a featured soloist for a concert!!!  WOOOO!!!

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More tomorrow!!!

LOVE WINS (and MUSIC can be a LOVE LANGUAGE!!!)

Karen White, October 4, 2022, ©