Texas Tech University - La Ventana Yearbook (Lubbock, TX)

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Mfc Two directors. In 1934 LeMaire, who still resides in Lubbock, retired, and Dewey O. Wiley, then director of the famed Har- din-Simmons Cowboy Band, accepted the di- rectorship of the Texas Tech Band. The only instrument that Tech owned when Director Wiley arrived was an old E- flat tuba. With money saved from a limited budget, Mr. Wiley purchased some used in- struments. The lack of music was another handicap. Wiley solved the problem in part by going to Dallas, where he acquired the music library of four of five hundred num- bers from the dissolved State Fair Band. In the beginning years the organization was known as the Matador Band and was attired in costumes similar to those worn by Spanish matadors. In 1937 Professor Wiley succeeded in obtaining red and black mili- tary uniforms which were used until the spring of 1958. Traditionally, these uni- forms were bought with Will Rogers ' aid, who promised to match any amount of money the band could raise. In the spring of 1958 the band donned uniforms of modi- fied West Point style, donated largely by Lubbock individuals and businesses. Many homes. First housing for the band was off campus, but in the summer of 1934 the band moved into a room in the Textile Engineering Building where it remained for the next twelve years. In June of 1946 it was again moved, this time into an inade- quate warehouse of the building and grounds superintendent. In September of 1946 the band was given a stucco building that had been used as a milking shed and the next year converted army barracks. The present Music Building was completed in 1951. The Tech Band has several activities during the year besides halftimes, concerts, and parades. For several years the members have gone on a three-day Spring Tour, play- ing single-stand engagements in area towns. In the fall there is a band clinic at Tech for area high school bands and one halftime during football season is devoted to Band Day with several high school bands joining the Red Raider Band on the playing field. Social activities. The band also has several social activities, including a picnic and the election of a Band Sweetheart. DEAN KILLION New director. There is a dance with a live stage band in the fall and Club Finale, a costume affair, in the spring. For the sports ' -minded band members, there is the slime-upperclassman football game and a Kappa Kappa Psi-Phi Mu Alpha football game. Despite its relative youth the Texas Tech Red Raider Band has gained national recog- nition through its marching and playing ability and its appearances in nearly every part of the country except the eastern sea- board. 23

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RED RAIDER BAND Texas Tech ' s Red Raider Band surprised many people this year, perhaps itself most of all. A band is a temperamental thing and there was much apprehension at the prospect of changing directors, but the transi- tion last summer from Professor Dewey O. Wiley, who had headed the band for twenty- five years, to Mr. Dean Killion was made with surprising smoothness. Killion, with his sincerity, good humor, and firm hand, won the students almost at once and his change of the band ' s former halftime marching style was also well re- ceived. In spite of getting used to a new director and a new style of marching, the band did a very good job with its first show, performed after classes had been in session only one week. Killion ' s background. Bom in Nebras- ka, Killion played the trumpet and cornet from fifth grade through college. He earned his Master ' s degree from the University of Nebraska and for some years following, a Nebraska high school band served as a prov- ing ground for his ability as a director. Dur- ing this time his band reigned undefeated in both concert and marching contests. The University of Nebraska invited him back as a professor and assistant director of bands. Two years later Killion moved to California as the head director of bands at Fresno State College. Upon hearing of the resignation of Professor Wiley, Killion applied for and received the directorship of the Red Raider Band of Texas Tech. Changes style. Before coming to Tech, Killion began to admire the Big Ten bands and decided that their show band style was the coming thing. The Red Raider Band now uses that fast, high-stepping, shoulder- swinging cadence to move around the field. The Tech Band was founded in 1925, the same year that the college opened its doors as an educational institution. This first band, made up of twenty-five members who used borrowed instruments and music, was directed by Harry LeMaire, a retired Army band director and Spanish-American War veteran. Tech ' s original uniforms consisted of red coats with black sleeves and black trousers. 22

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KAPPA KAPPA PSI Music Fraternity There is nothing that represents a col- lege more than its band, and a reflection of the Tech band is Alpha Omicron chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi fraternity for music majors. Kappa Kappa Psi has done a yeoman ' s job in carrying out special projects during the year, such as aiding the Navy Band in its concert in Lubbock and providing refresh- ments for visiting school bands accompany- ing their teams to Tech. During the all-school trip to Dallas in the fall, Kappa Kappa Psi petitioned the Student Council for permission to erect a concession stand in the last car of the train. With the Council ' s permission, the stand was set up and did a landslide busi- ness. Concert sponsor. When the Tech Band sponsored a concert in Lubbock with the Navy Band, the publicity was handled by the fraternity during the successful stay of the blue jackets. Proceeds from the pro- gram have been put into a fund which shall eventually become a source of music schol- arships. In order to interest music students in picking Tech as their future home, the fra- ternity sends out brochures to high schools throughout Texas. To comb the high school field thoroughly, the fraternity makes personal visits to homes where the students seem extra prom- ising. The students are then invited to Tech to examine for themselves the possibilities of a Tech music program. The sponsor of Alpha Omicron is the Tech band director, Dean Killion. Besides its various projects the fraternity works with the band director in aiding his work and helping to promote a better band. Founded as honorary. Although the fraternity was founded as an honorary or- ganization performing as a band service or- ganization, the activities are not strictly along the lines of work. Time is also found for varied social activities. At Christmas the fraternity co-sponsors with Tau Beta Sigma a dinner-dance for members and dates. Later in the spring Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma put on Club Finale, an informal dance. Other social get-togethers include open air parties held in the Lubbock vicinity. Two conventions were attended last year. Using the Blue Goose, the fraternity bus, trips were made during the summer of 1959 and the spring of 1960 to Tallahassee, Fla., and Stillwater, Okla., respectively. ROSTER FIRST ROW: Phil Anthony, treasurer; Bob Breckenridge, Kenneth Briden, second semes- ter president; George Buchanan, Don Cross, John Fairchild, Robert James Gray, secre- tary; Judson Hewlett, first semester presi- dent; Bob Hill, David Hoffman, Marvin M. Mauldin. SECOND ROW: Bill McDowell, James Munroe Morgan, Duane Patton, Samuel Wade Pool, William Robinson, vice presi- dent; Arthur Sayers, Jeffery Templeton, Reid Warner, Frank Washburn, David Winters, Walter Winters. • I tm 24