Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Strike Up The Band!

In the process of interviewing Mr. Ted Schacherer for our band position at North Fayette High School, one of the questions that I asked was “what will be your first halftime show?” His response surprised me a little bit as I had expected every young director with a liking of marching band to have that “dream show” that he or she had thought through night after night when they struggled to sleep. However, I didn’t get an answer like that. Rather, he responded, “Geez, I would have to get to know my band and their capabilities before I can make that determination.” Right there, I knew we had the right guy. He did share what his program at Tri-Center was last year, but this was a young director that was going to come in and see what he had, rather than force something preconceived. The analogy is the basketball coach that designs his offense or defense based on the abilities of his players, rather than force a specific type on them because that is his preference. His answer was one of an individual who has years more experience!

Mr. Schacherer joins us from western Iowa, teaching a year at Tri-Center Community Schools. For those of you unfamiliar with my old Western Iowa Conference stomping grounds, Tri-Center’s school is located right along Interstate 80 out in the country, and is made up of the towns of Neola, Persia, Minden, Beebeetown, and the surrounding rural areas. Why they didn’t call it Quad-Center, I don’t know! Anyway, he was there one year after graduating from Luther College and attending high school in Knoxville. From my South Central Conference days, Knoxville was a strong rival of my former Chariton Chargers! I guess when you have been as many places as I have, you can lay claim to all kinds of connections!

The band program at North Fayette is off to a flying start with Mr. Schacherer. He is enthusiastic and has hit the ground running. Students have already learned a lot of new things, particularly aspects of marching band. He has been able to build on the outstanding program Mr. Greg James has built over the years and is adding something new. The halftime program is “Journey,” and when you watch and listen, people from my generation can reminisce about that incredible voice of Steven Perry and those high school dances when if you got lucky, there was at least one girl left to dance to “Open Arms” with. A lot has to go into building a marching band, and you can see some of those initial steps being taken. Though he doesn’t have them roll-stepping yet, the band is starting to get comfortable showing a little of that “swagger” that marching bands have in their performance. They are taking it one step at a time (pun intended)! We are excited to have Mr. Schacherer leading our instrumental music program and look forward to an outstanding future!

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