What made you interested.......


ScreamTeam1

ScreamTeam1

Brave "4" Life
in learning how to play an instrument and want to be in a band? I know for me, when my mom would take me to all the jsu football games i would imitate jsu dm's. so when i got in middle school, i said drums first till he did an asessment and put me on trumpet, but who didnt say they wanted to play drums? from then on, it was show time.
 
I was truly fascinated with the look and sound of the flute since I was five, and still am. So when I got to sixth grade, I knew it was what I wanted to play. Between church (grandmother was minister of music) and my father playing music (mostly Motown) around the house when I was a kid, I grew up around music all my life.
 



Whole family full of musicians.. 9 uncles all played an instrument... them and their friends it was about 3 different funk bands in the house I grew up in... Wanted to play drums at first.. but my uncles were like...Don't you touch that drum set...even though I snuck on it over and over again...lol
 
I went to a music magnet elementary and middle school. They started us on instruments in 1st grade (violin), and in 3rd grade I had a choice of piano, orchestra, and band. Chose band, and wanted to play drums. Did that for all of a week, and during that week, it was all 1 hand and a practice pad. Was too slow for me. I wanted to try sax, but the school only had 2 saxes, and they were both assigned, so I ended up playing the French Horn. Played it from 3rd through 9th grade, when I was switched to trumpet out of band necessity.

Also, I had a fascination with bands since the earliest time. My mom would always send me with her friend and her son to every Texas Southern home game. And to this day, I wish they would do the death march to the fast cadence the way they used to years ago. ALWAYS loved it.
 
Back before desegregation, we had a HS in my neighborhood. The best tuba player I had ever heard was a student there. He lived right across the street and the BD gave him a key to the bandroom when he was in 7th grade. I was in kindergarten. I used to go up to the school to listen to him practice. He was phenomenal ... but, black schools were not eligible to participate in All-State. Then desegregation came when he was a HS sophomore. He made All-State as a Jr and Sr. I thought sure he was going to college, but he told me he was going to the Marines instead. Two years later he was principle tubist in the President's Own. I just wanted to follow in his footsteps.
 
Honestly, no one in my family or neighborhood(s) really influenced me to play an instrument. My earliest memory of interest was when I was about 8 years old. I was living in Germany at the time and I was out shopping with my parents when I saw a recorder (an English flute). I bought it with my own money (it was only like 2 dollars :lol: ) and it came with a music book, but the problem was that it was in German. :xeye: :lol: So I taught myself how to play because my elementary school didn't have band/music. Once we got back into the states, I joined the 5th grade chorus (this school didn't have band either) and learned how to read music; we did a play one time and it required a recorder player, so of course I stepped up to the plate. :lol: But my chorus/music teacher, Ms. Green, was actually impressed and said that I should consider joining Beginner's band when I started middle school the following year. Only thing was that I STILL had to wait until the 7th grade to join Beginner's Band. :rolleyes: So once I was in the 7th grade, I signed up and I wanted to play the clarinet since it somewhat resembled the recorder.....how bout I ended up on French Horn because there were too many woodwinds and the BD wanted more females to play brass?? :mad: :lol:

To sum it up- I hated the French Horn and I wanted to play something else. I had to choose between the tuba....and the trombone. :emlaugh: Turns out that I was pretty good on trombone and a few months later, she placed me in Advanced Band. :tup: And it just went from there. :)
 
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My family is full of musicians so I was already involved in music at an early age. It wasn't until I went to the St.Aug/35 game to see one uncle play football and one uncle marching for St. Aug. After seeing those dudes wrap the field and then march up the ramp inside Tad Gormley I lost all interest in football. Man those chicks went crazy as the 100 marched in. Many years later I was marching up that ramp in Gormley as all the girls went crazy.
 
1. Growing up in New Orleans in the 80's/90's (Enough Said...)
2. Went to a LOT of JFK/McD games when I was younger (I was MEZMORIZED by The K)
3. Always heard St. Marys By the house, and Fannie C while i was at school, and Bell/Woodson in the streets
4. My school FINALLY started a marching band
3. I WANTED to play the alto sax, but my mom said "we have a trumpet that your uncle never used" so that was that...sophomore year switched to mellophone, and junior year the BD put me on Double Horn
 
Always knew I would play. Older members of family played so I couldn't wait. The decision came in high school when you could not play football and be in band. I originally chose football until I realized that everyone one grew over the summer but me. Monday I was on the football team, Tuesday I was in the band. The best thing about it was being able to continue in college while most football players couldn't.
 
Dad took me to a Morris Brown game when i was around 6. He saw me gazing at the band and asked me what I wanted to play. I said trumpet cuz they were screaming all over the place and I knew i wanted to learn how to do that...been playing trumpet ever since.
 
FH2k said:
1. Growing up in New Orleans in the 80's/90's (Enough Said...)
2. Went to a LOT of JFK/McD games when I was younger (I was MEZMORIZED by The K)
3. Always heard St. Marys By the house, and Fannie C while i was at school, and Bell/Woodson in the streets
4. My school FINALLY started a marching band
3. I WANTED to play the alto sax, but my mom said "we have a trumpet that your uncle never used" so that was that...sophomore year switched to mellophone, and junior year the BD put me on Double Horn
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You went to Fannie C.? That's my middle school... Mr. Brown (St.Aug alum) talked a lot of us away from Kennedy. A few went though.. But Fannie C. Middle School was were it got REAL(marching band) for me!
:tup:

fanniecwilliams1992.jpg

A few cats from the 8th grade class in 91-92
That's me in the middle .. a lot of folk on that pic ended up at the "S".. My CB to my left went to St. Aug

:tup:
 
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SUtrp96 said:
You went to Fannie C.? That's my middle school... Mr. Brown (St.Aug alum) talked a lot of us away from Kennedy. A few went though.. But Fannie C. Middle School was were it got REAL(marching band) for me!
:tup:

fanniecwilliams1992.jpg

A few cats from the 8th grade class in 91-92
That's me in the middle .. a lot of folk on that pic ended up at the "S".. My CB to my left went to St. Aug

:tup:
Click to expand...

I wanted to be in the band EXTRA bad but, I went to McMain 7-12. I went to Sherwood Forest Elem, and FCW always practiced around our school and used to march in our "Mardi Gras" Parade. Fannie was a hound back in the G., but McMain got "full-time" marching band my 8th grade year.
 
Talk began in the fourth grade about beginner's band in the fifth grade (early 70's) and of course everyone in my crew wanted to play drums. Of course my parents (both musicians) trumped my decision with "Boy, you better grab that tenor sax your Uncle Carlos ain't using no more...." and the rest is history. Folks still couldn't believe I could transpose bass clef as a seventh grader playing the bari sax while sight reading. My nickname? Barry Sax...so sad...but prophetic.
 



FH2k said:
I wanted to be in the band EXTRA bad but, I went to McMain 7-12. I went to Sherwood Forest Elem, and FCW always practiced around our school and used to march in our "Mardi Gras" Parade. Fannie was a hound back in the G., but McMain got "full-time" marching band my 8th grade year.
Click to expand...

What year you left McMain?

Them there was the early years of Fannie C. Fannie was at that building starting in 1988. I got there in 1989. The building everyone know as Reed is the original building for Fannie C. which was in 1987. That's why Reed first graduating class was in 1988, the year Reed moved into "old" Fannie and Fannie moved to the spot where that picture was taken. Just a lil N.O. East school history..lol

But yeah man Fannie C. under Darrel Brown (St.Aug Alum) was a musical machine. We were cold in Marching and even more deadly in Concert band!!! Fannie C. alone produced a large percent of New Orleans kids in SU band...and I'm talking top players.
 
I was at McMain 94-00 so I was around when Fannie was in the Dwyer Bldg. I can STILL hear FCW marching behind our school playing Murphy's Law in my head. I heard about the building switch, STR was built with weird divided rooms "for a middle school" and stuff. I had a step-bro that played ball for JFK (later SU), so I used to be at PLENTY of their games (clearly for the band), and I had some fam in the 7th so I saw a lot of Bell ( <--sick with it!!), Gregory, and Phillips. When McMain got a Marching band it was OVER! I got in every band I could get into at McM.
 
FH2k said:
I was at McMain 94-00 so I was around when Fannie was in the Dwyer Bldg. I can STILL hear FCW marching behind our school playing Murphy's Law in my head. I heard about the building switch, STR was built with weird divided rooms "for a middle school" and stuff. I had a step-bro that played ball for JFK (later SU), so I used to be at PLENTY of their games (clearly for the band), and I had some fam in the 7th so I saw a lot of Bell ( <--sick with it!!), Gregory, and Phillips. When McMain got a Marching band it was OVER! I got in every band I could get into at McM.
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Ohhhhh.. man this is Kevan! Man what up! lol
 
I had to move from NO to tend some family stuff, but teaching middle school has been a good experience. We've been getting no less than excellent ratings at concert fest, and the program has been over 110 kids for three years. It also gave me the TIME (that I wasn't gonna EVER get teaching High School and marching) to go back to school.
 
FH2k said:
I had to move from NO to tend some family stuff, but teaching middle school has been a good experience. We've been getting no less than excellent ratings at concert fest, and the program has been over 110 kids for three years. It also gave me the TIME (that I wasn't gonna EVER get teaching High School and marching) to go back to school.
Click to expand...

That's whats up man.. That's going to help the high schools a lot out there where you at..nice size middle school band getting it in early like that.. remind me of New Orleans back in the day..
 
My big brother played the drums and I wanted to play the drums too. When asked what instrument I wanted to play, I replied "drums". I was quickly corrected by my middle school band teacher, "percussion".
 
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