For Your Eyes Only - Marching Band Trumpet Solo in 1987-88
Since I've already gone off my usual homesteading topics today, I might as well do another one.
In high school I was involved in all kinds of musical activities.
I sang in the choir. I sang and danced in our show choir, which performed around the community and in contests. I sang in the Madrigals, with several dinner performances which were a decent fundraiser for the music department.
(All these pictures come from my photo albums or from friends on Facebook)
I sang the national anthem solo before basketball games, and sang it as a duet before football games. Although not a great piano player, I did accompany the choir on my snazzy keyboard for one song. (It was the mid to late 80s, give me a break.)
I played trumpet in the marching band. I played trumpet and tuba in the concert band, and even played the french horn for one concert. I played taps as a solo or an echoing duet at military funerals arranged through the high school. I was even the "band director" for a year for the weekly TV show that our high school put out, which was kind of a Johnny Carson Tonight Show style interview show. I guess you could say I was our Doc Severinsen.
Our high school did not have an orchestra, so I played the tuba in the Central Illinois Youth Symphony which combined some of the best musicians from the area for performances. My tuba scholarship paid most of my college tuition.
I even made it on the front page of the Peoria Journal Star when they were helping us promote an upcoming concert. Of course the caption would say I'm too pooped to pucker and point out I was a freshman, but its nice looking back on even if I got teased mercifully the day it came out. A couple years later the Peoria Journal Star used another picture of me to promote a concert.
An old friend uploaded one of our marching band performances to YouTube which included this song "For Your Eyes Only" in which I do a trumpet solo. Not my best performance, there was one bad flutter, but not bad for a 17 year old.
I was a statistician for the basketball team and kept stats during the game, but I'd often run over and help the pep band during half-time. Just a little nostalgic trip down memory lane. I was a busy guy back then. Sitting around waiting for stuff can drive me a little crazy sometimes, leading to posts like this. :)
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You did so much in high school! I didn’t do nearly as much! But I’m sitting around too, waiting for baby chicks to hatch and it’s driving me crazy!! Ughhhhh
Its probably a good thing we didn't have any good video games back then. Cool, I haven't hatched any chicks in like 25 years. This might be good preparation for the near future when I give it another go then.
Oh yeah! Haha video games. I played super Mario like mad! Hahaha
More of the chicks hatched over night! Thank goodness!!
Thats sooo cool bro!
It sure was a lot of fun. I didn't mention I did some musicals and plays in HS, but I never had any major parts. West Side Story, like you did, would have been fun.
How FUN! Those productions were pretty fancy ..looks like from the pictures! Thanks for sharing!
Yes, I was lucky to have such a great music program at our high school and some really great teachers. The music department got paid for a lot of the performances we did at banquets and nursing homes and all kinds of events around the community, so that helped I'm sure. The Madrigal dinners we did were a pretty big production. We did 5 dinner performances in the school cafeteria that held about 200 people and we charged $20 per person (in the late 80s, I wonder what they charge these days), so I think that was well worth our efforts.