Hernando High School band

[bloke]

The town is named Hernando, and the county is named Desoto for Hernando de Soto - supposedly the first European to have been shown the Mississippi River by Native Americans.

The band is amazing. They don't have incredible instruments.The students probably own intermediate level clarinets, I saw sort of almost professional model trumpets and trombones, and the rockstar tuba players were playing some old ruddy-looking King 2341 tubas with detachable upright bells. Mrs bloke patched up their old plastic Vito and Yamaha bass clarinets today on site, and they seemed remarkably grateful. They do own a remarkably nice Fox Renard bassoon, and just bought a second one from us...
I saw quite a few stock mouthpieces being used, and can only imagine that the band would have sounded even nicer and could have generated even more volume with some $200 types of woodwind mouthpieces, rather than $60 ones.


The band is playing is clean as a whistle, remarkably nicely in tune, and they obviously understand phrasing - which is something that some professional musicians have to have dictated to them from music directors. I wasn't thinking "good for a high school band" when I was listening to them. I was simply thinking "good". (I sort of consider myself to generally be a picky/critical listener.) There are two adult community bands that rehearse regularly within an hour of that school, and this high school band is quite a bit better than either of those.

They do get a lot of support from multiple band directors and private instructors, but they don't swagger, and simply seem to consider what they do to be existential...and It's not a highfalutin town.

The head band director shuns graded "band pieces", and only programs what one would probably consider to be art music, but not the regular old Holst/Vaughan Williams/Sousa/Grainger, but quite a few things that might even be considered esoteric. He told me that he probably would have fit in better had he been born several decades before he was. (I don't know if any of the pieces that I saw on his stand or heard them play are found on so-called approved lists, but were they or if they are, I'm sure they are/would all be graded at the top, as far as difficulty is concerned.)

They also are extraordinarily competitive in the fall (marching), but they put that stuff away when it's time and get busy indoors.

Getting back to the tuba players, I would be glad for either one of them to sub for me - for many of the jobs I'm hired to play.

OK:
Texas-Texas-Texas/yankee-yankee-yankee...
... but this Mississippi delta school band - in the "backward" State of Mississippi - I'm sure would stand up with the best of them.
I wish I could have played in the band like this when I was in high school.

[the elephant]

When I was teaching at Mississippi State, my best music major tuba student was from Hernando. The kid was well-versed in fundamentals and did not need his hand held when using a tuner or metronome. HHS has had a good program for many years.

[russiantuba]

Piggy backing on this—one of the high schools I work with sounds very similar but is well funded. They are doing a Persichetti piece as well for contest. They have an after school marching band that is volunteer only and you have to pay to be in it and made the BOA grand nationals competition. They have concert bands year round and don’t work on marching music during band class.

The kids would still play well on whatever instruments they are given.

[bloke]

The plastic bass clarinets were sounding just a little bit hissy.

Mrs bloke worked on them (along with a testy contralto) in the band director's office (offering some extra special service), and then play them afterwards. They sounded like professional instruments, when she played them to check over her work. The students still sounded a little bit hissy on them, and the band director asked about the difference.

I spoke up and said that first of all she has about 50 years of experience - if not a little more that I wouldn't reveal , and also the mouthpiece she uses would probably sell for $1,000 - were anyone willing to sell one. The students were using Yamaha 4C mouthpieces.

I did a little bit of research, got back with him and suggested Vandoren B50 mouthpieces for them. They are not cheap, but are acquirable, affordable, and probably offer 95% of the resonance of Mrs bloke's mouthpiece.

Just above, it probably sounds like I'm going off on a tangent - but the point I'm making is that this band director is open to being educated and to knowing more about more things that will help his band. He is anything but a know-it-all... and that's probably a lot of the secret to his success with his program. Well..Take a look at my previous comments:
I already mentioned that he surrounds himself with excellent assistants and instructors.

[Three Valves]

How is it a marching band if they have tympani, glockenspiels, an electronic sound array and speakers at the 50 yrd line?

Yes, They sound and look fantastic!

[bloke]

How is it a marching band if they have tympani, glockenspiels, an electronic sound array and speakers at the 50 yrd line?

Yes, They sound and look fantastic!

If you're going over there (topic-wise), I would have to interject that the long-standing marching band thing of "tuned bass drums" - the tuning of which has nothing to do with the keys in which any of the music is pitched - seems to me to be one of the dumbest (post?)-modern-era things that has been juxtaposed into marching band.

I have a band director degree, but would have been in abysmal failure - and not because I would have demanded so much of my students, but because I'm sure I would have rejected nonsensical trends - simply because they are nonsensical, and - rejecting those trends - my bands would not have "won".

bloke "It seems to me that dragging a half a dozen UFO's (unidentifiable friggin' objects) onto the football field is even more of a non sequitur than any of the things you or I mentioned."

[Three Valves]

Yeah, save that weird Shirt for the Mummers Parade!

[bloke]

Historically, I would like to add that - to their esteemed credit - when de Soto demanded that 200 Chickasaw act as his porters (on his way towards the Mississippi River - which he didn't yet know existed), that they refused, attacked his camp that night, and slaughtered about forty of his men.

[Three Valves]

DeSoto; "Tote my barge, you savages"

Savages; "FU"

[Tuba1153]

Texas-Texas-Texas/yankee-yankee-yankee...
... but this Mississippi delta school band - in the "backward" State of Mississippi - I'm sure would stand up with the best of them.
I wish I could have played in the band like this when I was in high school.

Me too, and I am from Texas-Texas-Texas!!

[txtuba]

and also the mouthpiece she uses would probably sell for $1,000 - were anyone willing to sell one.

You've piqued my curiosity—what are these Stradivarius bass clarinet mouthpieces you speak of?

[bloke]

Charles Bay from several decades ago with serial numbers on them