THE EARLY YEARS OF THE SOUTHERNERS

I am writing some thoughts as they occurred to me in 1956, in the formation of, what was then, a radically new style of marching and playing. These thoughts are only sketches that tell of the events and situation of the time and some of the changes that took place. It would not be practical to go into all the details involved in the teaching process regarding the production of sound and marching. Even at the date of my retirement, the marching and playing style of The Southerners revealed those basic concepts used by the earlier band. The band has evolved in instrumentation, size, and show design. It has held the high standards of performance and marching through the years and is always an exciting and thrilling performance organization. The following is a listing of some ideas involved in the change from the old block band style to the new style. It might appear that these ideas are "old hat." However, in 1956, the ideas that now seem traditional were not being used. This writing is only a listing of these ideas. There has been no attempt to write a cohesive essay that might be suitable for publication.

As far as I know, all bands in Alabama and, perhaps, over the entire Nation, were using the block formation as a basis for field shows. The shows largely depended on the drawing or outlining of pictures on the field. The band members usually used a scatter technique or single file to arrive at the designated locations in the picture. The pictures and music were selected according to the individual picture or theme that might be selected for the entire show. There were other popular types of sows such as the skit. Most of the bands in Alabama used an extremely rapid field tempo - up to 180 plus beats per minute. The musical style of these bands was a quiet, restrained, "homogenized" sound. The upper volume levels were avoided. The band played marches, pop tunes, and school songs for marching and the theme music for the pictures. The restrained, quiet "homogenized" sound lost much of the potential for color. Even in the 1950s, bands were still being influenced by the sound of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century bands of Sousa, Moses, Pryor, etc. This concept of sound extended through the first half of the century and continued to reinforce the use of small or medium bore brass instruments producing small brass sounds. The soprano brass instrument was mainly the cornet. A couple of trumpets were used on the trumpet parts.

Some of the better high school bands performed a type of precision drill - intricate, tricky, footwork done in block formation. The band would sometimes use rank or file shifts with odd and even ranks or files. They would briefly move in opposite directions and return. Sometimes, a maneuver knows as "to the winds" was used. The block would move out of position in quarters or other segments and return. These bands used large groups of baton twirlers - from four or five twirlers to a dozen or more. When large groups of twirlers try to execute intricate routines with precision, very few come close. Usually, the drum major was the featured twirler. He used a baton and a police-type whistle to give commands to the band.