Going to College

Today I’m going to talk about the events that led me to go to college at James Madison University. I’ve explained in a previous post that I gravitated toward marching band in junior high school and then went all-in with my high school program. But, how could I take this passion and turn it into a career? There is no such thing as professional marching band.

Decisions, decisions

I was having a meeting with my high school guidance counselor. He was asking me what I wanted to do after high school. The truth was, I hadn’t really thought about it. I knew that my Dad had what I’ll call the, “big rule”. That rule stated that when you graduate from high school, you can live at home and pay rent, go in the military or go to college. BUT, if you go to college, you must have a major that pointed to an obvious job.

I looked at my counselor and blurted out, “I want to be a band director!”. He responded, “No, you don’t. You won’t make any money. How about becoming an electrician?”

He brought that up because I had taken an electronics class in high school and made an A. I enjoyed taking things apart to see how they work. (I still do,…in the realm of music.) The problem I had with going into the electronics field was twofold.

First off, being an electrician for me meant that I would be a TV repairman. I couldn’t picture myself in the jumpsuit with “Acme repair” on the back. A side note might be necessary for younger readers. We didn’t have computers yet. They would come on the scene a few years later. Secondly, my electronics teacher only taught every few days. Everyone goofed off in the class. My guess is that there were a lot of A’s in his class.

I told the counselor, “No, I want to become a band director.”. We spoke a bit more and he basically told me I’d regret it.

Where to go

I had no idea where I wanted to go to college. I admired my high school director, so I got an application to his alma mater, Gettysburg College and sent it in.

My family took a trip to Gettysburg so that I could do an interview. At some point the interviewer asked my parents to leave the room. When he had me alone, he looked at me and said, “Your grades are going to need to get a lot better if you want to come to this school.”

They didn’t.

There were numerous college posters on the band room bulletin board. One of them was from James Madison University (JMU). I pulled their contact information card and sent it in.

A few weeks later my director saw me in the band hall and barked, “Hey Eric! Did you send an info card to James Madison?” I said, “Yes”. He replied, “Well they called me and asked about you.”

I was struck dumb. Partly because I never spoke with my director. He directed a large band and he did not have routine conversations with me. Someone from JMU asked about ME?

It looked like my parents were going to be taking me on another road trip. This time we were headed to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

But, why was I interested in a school several hours away and in another state?

Why JMU?

Our high school band had performed on the JMU field. Bands of America (BOA) hosted a regional championship there and we had dominated the competition. I heard the JMU band perform as an exhibition band. My initial opinion was that they were loud.

My band (Norwin) stood next to the JMU band during the awards ceremony. We were trained to stay focused at all times. There was no goofing around while we were on the field and in uniform.

The JMU band had no such rule or tradition. In fact, goofing around was their tradition. The sousaphone players were right next to us and those guys were nuts! They goofed around, made jokes and kept trying to get us to break from attention.

But, BOA had a regional at JMU. That was all I needed to know. There must be something special about the band at this place.

Campus tour

We arrived on campus and joined a group of people taking a campus tour that was led by a current student. This student guide made sure to let us know where we could find the best parties. He also informed us that we should always buy beer by the keg since it was cheaper that way. The drinking age was 18 in Virginia, so we were legal and goodness did that lead to a lot of drinking!

I wasn’t a drinker or a partier. All I was thinking at this point was, ….oh man, my parents are never going to let me go to this school!

Later that day we went to a presentation by a staff member. The school sounded very nice. They asked if we had questions and I had none, which infuriated my Dad. “We came all this way and you don’t even have a question?!”

He didn’t understand. I didn’t care about anything other than getting a music education degree so that I could take a marching band to Nationals. For me, everything else was a waste of time and energy.

I did have a problem… I needed to get accepted.

Getting in

If you want to get a music degree you have to clear two hurdles. You must be accepted by both the school itself and then by the music department. So, your grades and your playing need to be acceptable.

My private music instructor (Bruce) picked out music and we got to work. We received permission from JMU to do a taped audition. Bruce was a graduate of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and he set up time for us to use one of their recital halls in order to make a recording.

I played those two pieces over and over again. Bruce had someone there recording using top of the line equipment. And, they tweaked the sound. When I listened to the final product, I hardly recognized myself. I felt like I was cheating, but Bruce assured me that this was the way it was done.

And, I needed that degree in order to make my dream come true.

I’m in…barely

JMU contacted me with the good news. I was accepted by both the school itself and also the school of music. I was going to college.

It was later that I found out that the the music department had to go to bat for me. My grades and SAT scores were not up to JMU standards. The music department asked for an exception for me. They wanted me based on my playing ability and possibly because of my high school experience.

If I had to guess, I’d bet Dr. Rooney had something to do with it. That was probably part of his frustration that he would eventually express when I quit marching band.

I know that the head of the music department, Dr. Estock, was the one who directly lobbied for my admission. He told me as much. It was a sobering revelation.

Postlude

I’m grateful to my high school director, LJ Hancock, who must have said nice things about me when JMU called. I’m also grateful to my private instructor, Bruce Weissert who worked diligently with me every week in our lessons and then took the time to create a high quality recording. (I wish I still had it!). And, I’m grateful to Dr. Rooney and Dr. Estock at JMU who took a chance on a kid they didn’t know.

Without these men, my life would have been drastically different.

While I was writing this post, I looked up my instructor, Bruce Weissert and found that he has passed away. He died in late 2019 at the age of 59 (my current age).

I’ll write about him next week.