I've been writing for bands for a long time now...about 12 or 13 years or so without a break, so that's pretty good. I really enjoy arranging and composing music. It uses a part of me that rarely gets used...I can't really explain it, but it appeals to the puzzle solving, mathematical side of my brain that, at the same time, hates puzzles and math. It's a ridiculous procedure for me which involves hours of staring, zoning in and out, super long showers where I write it all in my head, car rides I don't remember because I'm writing in my head, listening, listening, listening...then finally brain explosion on paper and it's done. It's like giving birth, but with no pain or fluids.
I first started teaching bands in 1996 at Downingtown HS back before the schools split and when they were a HUGE band. My job was to follow the saxes and the flugelhorns around and make them march well. I had no clue how to teach and I was barely older than they were, so I resorted to the only technique that made sense to me...bribes. I brought candy to every rehearsal and bribed them to stand up straight by rewarding them for their successes. It was an interesting year. When we came in last at championships (4th out of 4), I got to learn how to teach kids how to lose. When a kid comes up to you with tears in their eyes asking "why"...you learn a lot about people...including yourself.
The summer before that fall with Downingtown I marched my first season of drum corps with the Bushwackers. I had few friends because I guess being a rookie drum major makes you unpopular, but at the Cumberland, MD show I finally started talking to the Phoenixville crew. JR Bechtel, Nick Buddock, Sean McReady, Doozel Bechtel, Kris Gerace. We all walked down to the store during lunch and I bought a pizza boat, which JR found amusing. Thus begun a lifelong friendship that I cherish dearly. We were all about the same age, and it turned out that we all went to West Chester University. In fact, that fall that I taught at Downingtown it turned out that JR and Sean lived 2 floors above me in the same dorm. Fate, I tell you.
Well, after the marching season JR summoned me to his room and asked me to teach the pit at Phoenixville. I STILL suck at mallet instruments, but I did it. By the end of the season we had the band director at the time convinced that it would be a great idea to let me write the music for the horns while JR wrote the drum music. We decided that the "Planets" by Gustov Holst would be a great idea.
...and so we began my first project. I had to learn how to write plus how to use the Finale software...I guess it was Finale 3.1 or something like that on a computer with maybe a 2 gig hard drive. Unbelievable, when I think about it now. We wrote most of the show in the same room...we'd sing out parts, I'd write them. JR would layer in his percussion parts, we'd take a smoke break, maybe go to Denny's for coffee and more smoking, then come back and do some more. It was the most unhealthy, creative period of my life for a few years, and I wouldn't have traded any of it for the world.
After the outdoor season of 1997 JR asked me to write the pit parts for the indoor drum line. They wanted to do "Marimba Spiritual," which is a really hard piece. But, we had some very talented players, one of whom went on to march Crossmen for a number of years and teach North Penn and other great programs. So, we did it...and we won. We wore tuxes to championships and celebrated at Bennigans. It was great.
A new band director came to Phoenixville during the "Planets" year, and he wasn't as keen on the direction that JR and I were taking the program, nor was he as flexible as the former band director. He wanted to do an Irish show in 98, so we wrote it...and hated it...but we did it. It was obvious from day 1 that none of us saw eye to eye with this new guy, and I made it through the first week of band camp and couldn't take it anymore. I tendered my resignation and left. JR and the rest of the crew stuck it out, but by the end of that year they were all gone. The program we had tried to build was snatched out from under us and taken in a WAY different direction. They had some measure of success, which was nice to hear.
I began picking up different bands here and there over the course of the next few years, and by 2000 I had about 4 that came back every year. I didn't teach much during this time, because I was living in upstate NY. I moved back down to the Philly area around 2003 and business boomed. I took on more gigs than I ever had before, but quality began to suffer because arranging is a very time consuming activity, and it's difficult to write for 10 bands when you're working a full time job and teaching bands and marching drum corps during the summer. Some of the directors decided to go in another direction, and for the most part I understood that. Writing became a business for me, not a creative exercise. I didn't love it anymore...it was just something I did for money. This had to change, and it did.
Fast forward to present day. This year I had a good handful of gigs that I wrote, and I loved every minute of it. I have begun writing original compositions for shows, and that's working amazingly. My wife's band who's show I wrote is at least 1/2 original. Crestwood has an original ballad in their "Dark Knight" show. I've always infused original ideas, countermelodies, and themes into my arrangements...but it's so cool to look at the blank staff paper and then create from nothing. It's empowering. It's rewarding to hear the kids play it, and it's even more rewarding to hear people walking around whistling or singing your own original melodies.
I fear I've become desensitized over the years to hearing my music. I'm always listening to it with a critical ear. What can I do to improve? How are they performing it and what can I tell them to make them better at what they do? I feel like I detach myself from the music, and that it lost it's "cool" factor when I hear them play it.
I'm working on getting back to enjoying the music and getting a kick out of hearing the kids play it. A band in PA that I wrote for just sent me a video of a performance from last weekend. There performance issues to be sure...but I enjoyed it. I listened to it and I was excited to hear the kids play the music that I wrote...and play it with enthusiasm, as if they liked the music they were playing. That's always been my goal. Any kid in band can tell you at least one show they marched that sucked...or music that wasn't challenging or cool. I always try to write arrangements that I would want to play. I try to look at each instrument...not just write vertically, lining up chords and whatnot...but horizontally...what are each of the instruments doing? Am I challenging them? Are their parts cool?
I really enjoyed it. I'm visiting Crestwood this Saturday and I can't wait to hear their Batman show with my original ballad. I'm genuinely excited to hear it and to hear how the kids perform it...get their feedback on the music and what it makes them feel...to listen to the feedback from the judges, parents, and staff...to see how the crowd reacts to the show. I'm very excited for it.
I'm still having a hard time doing that at Penns Grove, though. Most likely this is because I teach them, so I won't be able to enjoy the show until championships. Until then, I can't turn off the critical ear or, in their case, my critical eye as the drill designer as well. It's my job to assess where we're at, where we need to be, and how we're going to get there. I wish I didn't have to look at it that way, because it's a REALLY cool show with some awesome musical moments in it...it's definitely my favorite show that I've ever written. No question. I just want to enjoy it.
There will be time for that, I suppose. What I do know is that I love writing. I love the process and I love the result. I hope I get to write for many more bands in the future too. I work for myself now, so it's easy for me to spend the time on many, many band shows and still give them quality work that I enjoy. I don't have the handcuffs of a full time job hindering the process anymore. I have so much music in me, and I hope to find more venues for sharing it.
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