ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 12, 1996 TAG: 9608120087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FERRUM
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
ROANOKE COUNTY high school bands prepare for their fall halftime shows with a boot camp-like regimen at Ferrum College.
They call it band camp, but it's more like boot camp.
On a recent Saturday, Tricia Rousis spent nearly 10 hours drilling and working on her drum music.
She got up at 7 a.m., ate a quick breakfast and reached the drill field by 8:30. For three hours, she practiced drill formations and movements with Northside High School's 67-member marching band, taking time out only for water breaks.
After lunch, band members from the Roanoke County school spent most of the afternoon working on their music in smaller groups. They returned to the drill field after supper for several more hours of practice before a 10:45 p.m. curfew.
They got up early Sunday morning and began the routine again.
But Rousis and other band members didn't complain.
"It's tiring, but fun," said the ninth-grader, a first-timer at band camp. "It's a lot of work, but it's worth it."
The Northside band spent five days at Ferrum College learning the drills and music for its halftime shows at football games this fall.
The 82-member band at Patrick Henry High in Roanoke and bands from four other high schools in Virginia and North Carolina also attended the camp to practice and perfect their halftime programs.
The students lived together in the college's dormitories and ate in the school's cafeteria on the campus, which is mostly deserted during the summer. But each band had its own practice field where it worked daily with a guest instructor who designed its drills and formations.
Northside worked with Patrick Dunnigen, director of Florida State University's marching band, and John Laverty, director of Syracuse University's band, worked with the Patrick Henry band.
"It takes a little prodding to get the students going some mornings because of sore knees, burnt faces and aching muscles, but they're a dedicated bunch," said Sharon Johnson, director of Patrick Henry's band.
On a Sunday morning, Johnson gave band members marching orders and a pep talk on the field next to the Bassett Hall dormitory. She reminded them there was to be no talking and that they should keep their heads up.
As the band members began walking through the formation without their instruments, Johnson clapped her hands loudly to keep a beat.
"Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right," she shouted as the students drilled.
On a field near the Chapman Hall dormitory across campus, Danny Galyen moved among Northside band members as they walked through the drill sets and movements for their 8-minute halftime show. If band members needed help to find their way to the right place, Galyen was there to help.
Galyen is the band's 23-year-old director, the youngest teacher at the school. He has a close rapport with the students because of his age, but he said they are respectful and have never crossed the line between teacher and student.
Galyen, who was a music education major at Virginia Tech, got the Northside job last year, two weeks after his college graduation.
"These kids work just as hard as any school sports team. They realize that all of this work will pay off later," he said.
Northside, Patrick Henry and other bands also take their football shows to competitions and festivals during the fall, with the highlight being the state band festival, sponsored by the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association.
Dunnigen, Florida State's band director, sat in a chair in front of the Northside band and used a loudspeaker to guide the students through the drills.
"Let's do it again," he yelled to the band after it had practiced an excerpt from the show. "We'll do it slow until we get comfortable with it."
Dunnigen, who has been working with the Northside band several years, said he comes back to the camp each summer because it enables him to keep in touch with high school students.
At Florida State, he teaches undergraduates to become high school band directors, and he said the camp helps him remember what it's like to be a high school director. He brought along several members of Florida State's band to work with the Northside musicians.
"These [Northside] band members are special. They work hard, and that's why I come back," he said.
Galyen chooses the music in May for the football halftime show and sends it to Dunnigen, who uses a computer to design the formations and movements.
Northside's music and formations are different each year. "It is custom-made for us. No one else will have the same program," Galyen said.
Northside's show this year will include a medley of spy music, including the "Mission Impossible" and James Bond themes, as well as a production song, "Hey Baby."
Galyen said the band spent the entire five days practicing the halftime show.
"We all work hard while we're here. We break down the formations and go through them step by step," said Justin Fielder, a senior tuba player and band president.
"We're like a close-knit family. We bicker and squabble sometimes, but we have a lot of pride in the band," Fielder said. "We come to camp to work."
Senior Justin Ayers, the drum major, said the students learn the basic formations and movements during the camp - and then refine the show by practicing daily until the football season begins.
"We get it down by the end of camp and then work on it some more after we go back home," Ayers said.
The band members wear T-shirts, sweat shirts, shorts and sneakers while practicing. Heat can be a problem sometimes, so each band takes coolers of water and soft drinks to the drill fields.
Johnson, director of Patrick Henry's band, said the students are tough and stand up well during the hours of practice.
"We haven't sent anyone home yet," she said.
Each band member has a copy of the drill showing all formations and his or her location in each. Patrick Henry's drill book this year was 27 pages long.
"Each band member can see where they're supposed to be at all times," Johnson said.
Nearly 25 high school bands from Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina come to Ferrum each summer for the camps. Mid-Atlantic Band Camps operates four of the five-day camps in July and August.
John Savage, a former music teacher at Virginia Commonwealth and East Carolina universities, has been running the camps for two decades. "We kind of take over the college for a while," he said.
The college provides the dormitories, cafeteria and water for the bands while they're there, he said.
Only six school bands can attend each five-day camp because the college has only six drill fields, he said. The schools pay Savage's camp a fee of $160 for each student for the cost of lodging, food and guest instructors.
Some schools have an additional charge for bus transportation to the camp, drill charts and other costs. The total fee for Northside band members is $200 - $160 for the camp and $40 for related expenses.
Bands from Cave Spring, Franklin County and Radford high schools also attend.
Savage said the students work harder on their drills and music at camp than they would if they were at home.
"They come here and get away from the distractions at home," Savage said. "They see how hard the other bands are working, and that makes them want to work harder."
Heidi Swisher, a senior saxophone player for Northside, said she looks forward to the five-day session each summer.
"It's work, but you get used to it," she said. "It's not so bad, really."
LENGTH: Long : 153 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN SPEARMAN Staff. 1. Members of the Northside Highby CNBSchool band practice with their music books before they practice
with their instruments at the Ferrum College Band Camp. Band members
can spend up to 10 hours practicing their music and formations.
Northside worked on their drill formations and music with Patrick
Dunnigen, director of Florida State University's marching band.
"It's tiring, but fun," said ninth-grader Tricia Rousis. "It's a lot
of work, but it's worth it." 2. Sophomore Michael Blankenship of
Patrick Henry practices on the drums. Each band has its own practice
field. 3. K.C. Copeland of the Patrick Henry High School band
catches up on his sleep during a morning practice. color. 4. Sarah
Maxwell of the Patrick Henry band plays the bells under a tree to
keep out of the heat. John Laverty, director of Syracuse
University's band, worked with the 82-member band. 5. Northside band
members are reflected in a tuba as they listen to their band
instructor critique their performance.