'Cause I'm Just a Teenage Drum Major, Baby

Come listen to a variety of high school bands play my old catalog of pep band sheet music and tear up with me.

The Vienna High School marching band circa 1993 during the Maries County Parade. I am the one in the headphones. Of course, thumb inside the fist for a more streamlined look.

I am gearing up to lead our Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design faculty offsite on Monday. I am procrastinating from printing off meeting agendas and committee assignments, mentally preparing for a generative conflict workshop, and trying to figure out how to make university-wide budget cuts sound not like a terrible thing by thinking about a folder of high school pep band music that I stumbled upon a few days ago. WHAT A DANG TROVE OF TINY SHEETS FILLED WITH MUSICAL TREASURE.

It’s a lucky day for you flute players. Here is a copy of the Cagney & Lacey theme song to jam out to.

I wouldn’t say I liked much about school, but I adored band. Pep Band, Marching Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band. Give them all to me. I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere at Vienna High School except for the tremendous space Mr. Griswold had created, the sanctuary called the BAND ROOM. Looking back, I owe Tony Griswold a TON regarding how I currently teach. He was my first model of how important it was always to be around, how to create a welcoming space, and how to be a cheerleader. And he freaking LOVED what he did. The band room was always open, and he played the piano, trumpet, trombone, or drums and engaged other students to play before and after school. His enthusiasm was infectious. I played the flute from 5th grade through most of college, and it still sits in its velvet-lined case in my bedroom closet. I am never getting rid of it.

A drawing of my FANCY FLUTE that I picked as one of my 10 objects that my friend Zach and I included in our collaborative zine Belongings.

I remember myself as a timid high school student, but for some reason, he made me Drum Major as I entered my sophomore year. This was my first leadership position; boy, it felt good. I didn’t realize how much I would love leading a group of people as we awkwardly played the pop hits of today and yesterday. I loved conducting. I loved calling out, “Parade Rest!” I loved keeping time. I loved sitting in the back of the bus with my friend Todd, the head of percussion, delightfully arguing about music on band trips (Van Halen vs. Weezer, for example, was one of many raucous debates). He was my incredible partner in keeping the band together during parades. He kept time so well, was well respected, and was a very, very good drummer. I think we both enjoyed the endorphin boost that happens when a group of people come together to make something special. Even if that something special is a bunch of teens playing “I’m In a Hurry and I Don’t Know Why” by the country musical group Alabama.

The Acme Thunderer currently resides in my school office at Portland State.

One of my favorite things on YouTube is to look up songs played by high school bands. It’s an emotional overload for me. The combination of seeing teens earnestly and sometimes very awkwardly play music together will always make my eyes water. I can’t help it. I am thankful every day that I went to school before iPhones and before the internet, but I so wish that a catalog of our band performances existed and could be called up with an easy search. I wish I could see Todd play the drums, and I wish I could see my friend Christina wail on her trumpet as we kick out a version of Talking in Your Sleep by The Romantics.

However, as a substitute, I took that pile of tiny sheet music and looked up OTHER high school bands playing the random set list I discovered a few days ago in my Selmer Pep Band Folder. Here is a little musical gift (?) for you.

1. **Walk This Way** by Aerosmith
DE Everest High School Band 

2. **Takin' Care of Business** by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School Jazz Band

3. **A Whole New World** from Disney’s *Aladdin*
Jackson Middle School Advanced Band

4. **Cagney & Lacey Theme** by Bill Conti
BHS Jazz Band

5. **The Final Countdown** by Europe, All City High School Band

6. **Theme from Magnum P.I.** by Mike Post, Miramar High School Band

7. **Conga** by Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
Garfield Band

8. **Layla** by Eric Clapton
Hudson High School Swing Marching Band

9. **Talking in Your Sleep** by The Romantics
Dudley high school Band 2017 Talking in your sleep

10. **Sharp Dressed Man** by ZZ Top
2018-2019 Crosby High School Cougars

I start my 17th year teaching at Portland State on Monday, and it’s also my 20th anniversary teaching full-time. I teach to honor the excellent teachers I encountered while in school and as a big giant middle finger to the handful of terrible teachers who made me feel like garbage. Thank you, Tony Griswold, for being one of the very best.

WHERE ARE MY BAND NERDS AT???

Sincerely,
Kate (decent flute player, incredibly mediocre alto and tenor sax player, a TERRIBLE oboe player, and a very fun yet very serious drum major).