The 1983-84 THS Band was a fantastic marching and playing band. The year before was the first year a THS band ever received a superior rating at State Contest (in Class C). Unfortunately they didn't do so well at contest this year, but they did take a trip to march in the Apple Blossom Parade in Virginia and visit Washington DC on the way. The band had over 100 marching members this year, not including 6 very good majorettes and 16 flag corps members.
The first song is the opener from the Pot Luck Show - that's where
band members and their families gather to eat in the high school cafeteria,
and afterward the band gives its first performance of the season as a way
to signify the end band camp. The band got to show off some new stuff:
the flag corps received new flags and the entire percussion section had
their drums refurbished. The band actually performed its second show
for the season instead of the first! It's impressive that the second
show was far enough along in band camp to be able to perform for the pot
luck. Listen for the very cool E-flat trumpet part, as there was
often an "effer" (pronounced "ee'-fur") played by a lucky trumpet player
in marching band during the 1980's.
The next 3 songs are from the first show of the '83 season. The
first song, Malaguena, is from the halftime of a football game. The last
two songs are from a band show at Fairless High School.
This season included the 10th Annual Triway/West Holmes Combined
Band Show. The combined show music and drill was planned earlier
in the season by Mr. Brooks and Mr. Wheeler, and the two bands would practice
the show on their own during band camp or the beginning weeks of school
when they could find the time. After school on Friday of the big
game, the bands would gather on the home team's practice field to practice
the show together before their performance that night. It was always
fun for me because there were so many more people on the field that were
playing and marching along with me than what was normally in my own band,
and we performed during the entire halftime to both sides of the field.
The next song is from the 1987 Wayne County Band-a-rama.
For a few years, the school mascot (a guy dressed as a Titan) was replaced
by this big, purple, feathery, bird thing called the T-Bird. I don't
know who's great idea it was, but it looked really dumb, and I heard it
smelled bad inside the suit. Fortunately, the T-Bird lasted for just
a few years, but during those few years it became what I like to call a
"dancing mascot". I HATE dancing mascots. (I know Dalton has
had their dancing bulldog for years, but I'm sorry, I HATE dancing mascots.)
All they do is bounce and dance around, and take people's attention away
from the band. Well, this particular night the T-Bird was there,
dancing and swooning throughout this song and basically the entire show.
Of course, it caught everyone's attention, and that is why you hear the
audience laughing at the beginning and some more throughout.
This year is what I call a "drum and trumpet band" (a twist on "drum and bugle corps") because there were quite a few trumpets and drums and not much else, at least that can be heard on a football field. From the beginning of the 1980's when the band was over 100 members, this year's band was significantly smaller than that - around 56 members. After this low point, the next year would see an influx of a large and musically talented group of freshmen - the class of 1994. They were the beginning of the turn around for the Triway band.
Regardless of the balance issues, the band plays the following songs
fairly well. As Mr. Brooks has said in the past, he was always lucky
to have at least one really good trumpet player. This year he had
quite a few. "Joshua" features the entire section. ("If in doubt,
'flat' it") Brian Miller is the soloist in "Stiletto" and Richard
Brooks & Kendra Brown play a duet in "All I Have To Do Is Dream".
After a few years of being sparse in the lower brass section, as
well as having a smaller band overall, the band was building back up.
Our first show of the year was commonly referred to as the "Pretty Woman
Show" since the first song in the show was Pretty Woman. Very scientific,
I know, but this was one of those non-themed shows. Mr. Brooks didn't
always use a theme for a halftime show. This was my first halftime
show as a freshman! These recordings are from the 1991 Wayne County
Band-a-rama.
The opening was a 3-line, down-the-field,
step-2 drill which ended in a concert formation for the next song - for
some reason the tempo got slower the further along we went this night.
Just one of those things...
One of the highlights of this season was the
trombone soloist doing a cute dance with the line of majorettes during
the trumpet duet in the middle of this song. You can hear the other
bands' members sitting in the away stands going nuts! A fond memory:
during band camp one evening, after we did our show, Mr. Brooks had us
standing on the away side on the track while he told us how we did.
He advised our soloist about his dance with the majorettes, something to
the effect of, "Mike, you're getting too close to the majorette in front
of you." Being high school kids, we thought that was just hilarious.
I'm the first to admit this isn't the best
performance of this song - that horn player who thinks they're the soloist
instead of the trombone is too much, but I love this arrangement of this
song and the solos & duet are very nice. I recommend this song
to any band looking for a good closer. Another fond memory: one particular
night of band camp, it was almost 9pm - ending time - and in the middle
of the song we march toward the away side to set up for a big push back
toward the home stands to end the show. It was so dark, and we didn't
have lights on the "home" side of our practice field (the parking lot)
- we sort of stopped playing because we couldn't see our music, but then
when we turned around - ah, there was the light and all was well.
I can see and hear and feel that moment like it just happened, to this
day. Odd how that happens.
This is a recording from us playing in the
stands during a game. This song became part of our repertoire due to our
combined band show with *Orrville* in 1992. We learned our part of
the show in the weeks leading up to the game. The whole week of the
game it rained, and they hadn't practiced the show in the weeks before,
so they couldn't get out to the field to learn it! Instead, we made
up some easy entrance onto the field, marking time for a whole bunch, and
then ending up in a concert formation for the rest of it. Never again!
Our last show of the season was a jazz show. We really loved Big Spender, and it became a favorite for pep band, as well as a good song to sing when we were all getting dressed or undressed in our uniforms!
"No, no, you don't rip it off, you take it off one shoulder at a time!"
A majorette-feature song from our first show
- we played Big Spender again for the fiiirst time we did the show and
then substituted this song for the other times. It's a nice arrangement
and we sound good. Traci Speicher and Erlena Bowers were the majorettes
featured in this song.
This was also the year of the famed Aladdin Show! Probably
the best themed halftime show ever performed by the Triway Band, at least
that I have seen. The idea came from Tracy Talbott, one of our majorettes,
who did a routine to "Friend Like Me" in twirling competitions during the
summer (the Disney movie came out previously that year). The idea
somehow got pitched to Mr. Brooks, and thus became the Aladdin Show.
All the majorettes were dressed like Jasmine, especially Tracy, and our
drum major Jason was blue from head to foot as the genie! Unfortunately,
the Band-a-rama was rained out that year, so we never got to perform it
in that venue. However, it was the show we did for Triway's first
ever football playoff game! We finished the show off with a Script
Titan, and as I rounded the bottom of the first T, I could already see
the fans standing and cheering for us - it was the greatest fan support
I ever felt as a member of the Triway Band.
"Listen as the 'Powerful Purple Percussion' pound out the William Tell Overture"
We weren't as big of a band as the previous year. We only had
69 marching members this year, but we still put on some great shows.
One of the highlights of the season was our feature twirler, Tracy Talbott.
She is the first and only Feature Twirler the THSMB has ever had.
The year before, she was on the majorette line with 4 seniors. No
one came forward in 1994 besides Tracy, but she was the only twirler "out
front" that we needed!
These tunes are from the very first show with John Puster as head
band director. He was our student teacher from the College of Wooster
in 1990-91, and in the 1992-93 school year he was the assistant marching
band director and pep band director. The "fanfare" is for all you
little weasels out there who just loved playing it! (This
was a very good playing band - there was no good reason they got a II at
district contest - a reason yes, not a good one)
This year had some of the greatest music ever chosen for a marching
band during the Puster Era. Their second show was especially "toe-tapping"
and, overall, very well marched. Maybe it was just the band that
was playing it was very good... (ditto from above for
a II at state contest)