St Marys College California - Gael Yearbook (Moraga, CA)

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MAKING MUSIC MAKING MUSIC AT ST. MARY ' S By Scott Kahl When people think of col- lege bands they envision one, maybe two hundred people marching on the field during the football game. They think of Stanford tuba players making game saving tackles, even though it was for the opposing team. In high school, band was a lot of fun, but it was also a good way to avoid some other pretty boring elective classes. At St. Mary ' s the word band usually means ei- ther the athletic department hired a high school to play at the game, or someone was having a passing conversa- tion about a concert at the Oakland Coliseum. In the past few years the meaning has slowly begun to shift to Saint Mary ' s Pep Band. The primary way of insti- tuting new programs at Saint Mary ' s is by showing enough interest to validate the effort and expense. In such a manner a small group of students, headed by Mi- chael Johnson have orga- nized a pep band in the last two years. It has grown from a passing thought , to a group of approximately 20 members who are willing to give up their time to add a little bit of spirit to athletic contests. What the adminis- tration has failed to realize is that before the band can attract more members, it must have the materials to do so. There doesn ' t neces- sarily need to be a music major, but there does need to be a full credit class. There also needs to be fund- ing for instruuments and other equipment. In the president ' s speech at gradu- ation two years ago we heard hopeful words with respect to a music program, as that years ' guest speaker was a famous conductor. I haven ' t heard much since. The sound of the group only gets better everytime they play, and believe me, it ' s not all fun and games. You should try the Star- Spangled Banner in front of a crowd at the basketball game when only the drum- mer, one flute, and one trumpet shows up; one squeak and all of a sudden you ' re funnier than someone who makes a basket at the wrong end of the court! It is this writer ' s opinion that the college should promote the growth of a music program rather than make a small handful struggle to attain it. If you check the entrance applications I ' m sure you ' d find a great proportion of students who were in high school bands. The reason they ' re not playing here isn ' t because they don ' t want to, it ' s because there is not a program for them to ease into. As for them helping or- ganize one themselves, I think new students have enough of a problem adjust- ing to college in other ways rather than trying to change the school in the first month! It ' s a perpetual problem of losing potential St. Mary ' s musicians year after year. The gift of music is a special one. We ' d like to believe this isn ' t going to be the last year there is a band section in the yearbook. We ' d like to believe this isn ' t going to be the last year St. Mary ' s has a band. Come on guys, let ' em play. (GWEM DOUGLASS) (GW £,V DOUGLASS) 20

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.. So. (GWEN DOUGLASS)

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A TRIAL SITUATION. Left Page: Top: As viewed from the eyes of a hypno- tized cobra. (Tom Atwood) Bottom: Mike Johnson wonders what hap- pened to the rest of the drum section and flute player Kellie Daniels has yet to rea ize the rest of the band is playing. Right Page: Top Left: Trombone players always seem to be a little off balance. Top Right: I wonder if they would notice if 1 faked it. (Peter Krawiec) Bottom: No honey, that ' s not a flute, but keep trying Toni.