Marching to the same drummer
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Wednesday, August 20, 2008
By Mary Lou Gorny
Hilltop Times editor
Band camp takes Bonneville students and makes them function as a unit as they drill on base
Unless you were using the track near the Warrior Health and Fitness Center on Aug. 15, you probably missed sight of a group of hardworking young people on base that day.
Off to the side, Staff Sgt. Christopher Hoyles called directions over a microphone as band teacher Paul Kapp motioned BUH-dah-duh-duh-duh-duh, BUH-dah-duh-duh-duh-duh to indicate a faster pace needed and its 12-count measure to Hoyle.
The Bonneville High School marching band was using the green space inside the track because Sgt. Hoyles, a student with a music education major emphasis at Weber State University, helped set the arrangements with the 75th Air Base Wing and helped with other band duties as part of his studies.
On that Friday morning, the formations were a bit on on the raw side, as the two instructors put together the drill. The teens stood in a V with a small number of students standing in a few other designated spots. A metronome beat out the time in a click, click, click, and the formation slowly dissolved into another line as the students followed the directions on their sheets and Hoyles' commands.
Bonneville Band Camp, a weeklong event, included drilling -- with instruments and without -- through a series of formations with color guard. At band camp, high school band becomes more than just a few familiar-sounding songs played by students sitting on metal chairs and it becomes a marching, twirling mass of music presented as one.
The metronome clicked the time over the loudspeaker and then silenced to Hoyles' commands as first one instructor and then the other briefly talked about what brought them to this area of interest.
Hoyles, as the one in charge of drills, maneuvering and musical arrangement, talked about his work with the 388th EMS Munitions Flight area, and how he met Kapp who was leading a performing ensemble at WSU.
And then he gave his take on band camp.
"Basically, we bring the kids up here for a couple of days and get them away from everything else so they can concentrate on going over charts and learning the music. What we're doing now is studying drill for the marching band for the year," he said and then he went back to work giving directions. Student instructors have to follow through.
Kapp, band director with Bonneville High, talked about his beginnings. He remembered standing in a national bicentennial celebration band rehearsal as a freshman at Davis High School and feeling the momentous nature of the occasion -- the spirit of what being part of a unit representing the state of Utah could be and being touched by the spirit of the music he was playing. "It's just what I love to do," he said.
"Watching the students grow and develop into an ensemble, a cohesive unit, is rewarding. I want to provide for students the opportunity to grow as a person to be a part of a whole, to learn discipline, to be accountable for what you play. There's an incredible amount of growth, and they all have to function as a unit of one, their marching performance, their playing performance, their total execution of what they do," he said as he talked about being a band instructor.
Hoyles broke the numbers down as to the groups: 13 in the drumline, six in the color guard, 16 in the brass section and the woodwinds -- three clarinets and four flutes. Many of the other band students had been unable to attend due to prior commitments.
For those that were here, this looked like work, both for the young marchers on the field, and the two off to the side, occasionally conferring over charts and watching intently the casually dressed marchers on the field as they went through their motions.
All had been at it for three days, practicing on the field at the school from eight a.m. to five p.m. and then reforming for the last two days at the base.
Kapp was grateful for the opportunity for his band to practice in a place where he didn't have to compete for the same real estate as the student athletes. "The football team uses the same turf," he said.
An afternoon visit to the field showed the precision of the movements as the students worked hard. At some point these practices change music students into team members.
"They build a sense of team spirit, a sense of esprit de corps," Kapp said.
"To watch the students grow and develop into an ensemble, to learn to function as one, that is a thrill," he said.
Why would someone want to be a music educator?
I chose music education as a major because I have been a musician all of my life. I played in the band program up through high school and went to Washington State University on a music scholarship before I decided to enlist in the Air Force.
I am learning to become a band instructor so working with the band program at a local high school seemed to be prudent. Paul Kapp invited me to work with his students for the last two years and the experience is fantastic.
As far as the band camp, this is an opportunity for me to communicate with the students in a smaller environment to educate them in the areas required such as drill and performance. It gave me an opportunity to hone my communication and management skills at the same time; critical for a successful music program.
I enjoy teaching. I have been teaching for the last three years in a special duty capacity here at Hill with great feedback from my students. I enjoy being able to pass on something I have learned to better someone else's life, especially in the music world.
-- Staff Sgt. Christopher Hoyles
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